There’s little doubt that Stonewall Jackson would have pressed the action when the Yankees were fleeing to what became a remarkably strong defensive position. The Battle of Gettysburgh was lost early on when the Rebels lost that advantage.
That said, Longstreet was right when he counseled leaving the battlefield after Day 1. The Yankees had position and moving towards Washington DC would have forced them out of those positions.
I know that Lee loyalists (and I am a big fan of Marse Robert) will not like that analysis, but Longstreet was right. He was also a defensive warfare genius. (His tactics were widely used in WWI). At that point in time, the South needed to be in a defensive mindset.
I say this as a Northerner who is glad (relieved) the Union won.
Don’t presume that the Army of Northern Virginia is headed toward Gettysburg in my book... LOL!
Newt Gingrich and another guy (whose name escapes me right now) wrote a trilogy examining what might have happened had Gen'l Lee listened to "Pete" Longstreet. It is a pretty good read!
There were so many failures at Gettysburg by Lee it was bordering on insanity. Longstreet seemed to be the only sane Confederate leader there, but of course Lee just had to keep sending his men up the aptly named Cemetery Ridge.
You and I see the Battle of Gettysburg the same way.
Its my belief had Jackson survived, he would have gotten his troops wiped out attempting to take Cemetary Ridge or Culps Hill in the late afternoon/early evening of July 1st.
Thats if he moved as he did at Chancellorsville. If he went into a lethargic mode, as he did in the Pennisula campaign....or a couple of other times our Southern friend don’t like to mention, let alone discuss....
I read somewhere that “While Jackson served beside Lee, Lee never lost a battle; after Jackson died, Lee never decisively won a battle.”