Meade at least managed to get the high ground. You wonder if he would have succeeded at that had Jackson still been alive. The old artillerist would have fought Meade hard for it on the first day, maybe harder than one legged Baldy Ewell.
“In fact Sickles almost lost Gettysburg—and quite possibly, the war—on his own, by repositioning his corps without permission and creating a large gap in the Union lines. Had the salient been fully exploited by the Confederates, Gettysburg would have ended on the first day, and Lee’s Army would have paraded in Philadelphia within a week.”
Actually I think that would be the second day. I’ve an ancestor who was with the 13th Mississippi in that assault on Sickles’ position- ‘the battle of the peach orchard’, Barksdale’s Brigade. I have a picture of him in his uniform.
It’s my understanding that the Mississippians breached the Federal line but there was no one to follow up the attack. The attack was launched very late in the afternoon and darkness may have prevented any opportunity to exploit their position, which might have given Longstreet the chance to flank the Union line.
You are correct...BTW, I have ancestors who fought in Mississippi, Alabama and Texas regiments during the war. The deepest penetration of the Union lines at Gettysburg was made by the University Grays, Company A of the 11th Mississippi Regiment. The unit consisted almost entirely of students enrolled at the University of Mississippi before the war; not a single one returned to Ole Miss after Lee’s surrender. Their casualty rate during Pickett’s charge was 100%; every single man was killed, wounded or captured—the highest losses of any unit at Gettysburg.