[Kenny Bunk]

Great post. Plenty of Confederate blame to go 'round on that day. Lee told Ewell to occupy Cemetery Ridge "If practicable!" Reckon he thought it wasn't.

Lee wasn't at his best that 1st day, either. Vicious case of dysentery. A.P. Hill was a charismatic commander, but it's my impression that he was much too impetuous and liable to go off half-cocked, screwing up Lee's well laid plans ... and this wasn't the first time either. His over-aggressiveness goes back to First Manassas and then his service under Jackson.

He also seemed quite careless of casualties, which Lee always thought to minimize by maneuver rather than direct assault.

Have you been to the battlefield?

[vetvetdoug]

Have you been to the battlefield?

I have had the privilege of riding horseback over the entire battlefields of Shiloh, Ft. Donelson, Chickamauga, Stones River, Kennesaw Mountain, and Gettysburg to name a few and several that are not included in the Military Park System..Britton's Lane, Middleburg, Hatchie Bridge, Corinth, Brice's Crossroads, Harrisburg...I also was able to cover Gettysburg and experience it as a member of a six horse artillery hitch. It gives one quite a perspective about the terrain and the battle.

[prof.h.mandingo]

It is on the “bucket list”. I hope to perhaps, Good Lord willing, be in the area for the 150th in 2013 but my cousin passed away recently and there went my condo in Alexandria, Va.
It was my impression that Hill was perhaps suffering from VD picked up in the Mexican War. He was uncharacteristically reticent to attack as in former engagements. As was Ewell. He was a firebrand under Jackson. I think he was not really over the loss of his leg. If I remember correctly Ewell redeemed himself in the Wilderness. The battle of Gettysburg is one of those eerie battles that seem preordained from the beginning. The more I study it (going on fifty years)the more I get a cold chill.
If you are into the Revolution check out Yorktown. Strange things happened there also. I mean the French fleet held off the British fleet. THE FRENCH. LOL. A freak storm held up the British fleet in New York harbor. There are other instances during the siege. Cue Twilight Zone music.