The Unfettered Curmudgeon

july 4, Independence Day 1863 Retreat and blame at gettysburg "This has been all my fault," Lee admitted about his failed July 3 assault at Gettysburg, adding that "it is a sad, sad day for us." General James Longstreet and General George Pickett were in silent agreement. A torrential rain fell over Gettysburg on the 4 th of July, as it seems often happens after a great battle, washing away much of the blood at Devil’s Den, The Peach Orchard, Little Round Top, Cemetery Hill, and the vast field of battle stretching from Cemetery Ridge westward to Seminary Ridge, leaching into the soil to forever hallow that ground, while the bloating bodies of the thousands of dead waited to be moved from where they lay to some slightly better resting place. The stench was horrendous, compounded by the bodies of some 1,800 horses and mules that had been killed. Not much happened that day. It was time for both sides to take stock of the situation, to lick ...

July 3, 1863 ...GETTYSBURG, THE LAST DAY The night of July 2 nd settled over Gettysburg but the smoke of battle hung in the air as though it were a shroud for the thousands of dead and wounded who lie on the field of battle. Some suffered in silence, others called out for their wives or their mothers, while others moaned plaintively for someone to come and end their misery. On the eastern slope of Cemetery Ridge, Commanding General George Meade held a “council of war” in his headquarters building, a tiny two-room farmhouse belonging to the Widow Leister. By the light of a single oil lantern, the Union generals analyzed the battles of the last two days and then discussed what was to be done the next day, July 3 rd , if Robert E. Lee decided to attack again. Meade anticipated another attack. He knew Lee had committed himself despite the lack of any decisive victory. Given the heavy casualties his side had suffered, the decision was made to stay on the defensive; furthermore...