Protecting the Flank at Gettysburg

Protecting the Flank at Gettysburg
Author: Eric J. Wittenberg
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2013-02-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 161121095X

The award-winning Civil War historian’s study “makes the case that Union cavalry had a tremendous effect on the course of the titanic battle” (J. David Petruzzi, author of The Complete Gettysburg Guide). On July 3, 1863, a large-scale cavalry fight was waged on Cress Ridge four miles east of Gettysburg. There, on what is commonly referred to as East Cavalry Field, Union horsemen under Brig. Gen. David M. Gregg tangled with the vaunted Confederates riding with Maj. Gen. Jeb Stuart. This magnificent mounted clash, however, cannot be fully appreciated without an understanding of what happened the previous day at Brinkerhoff’s Ridge, where elements of Gregg’s division pinned down the legendary infantry of the Stonewall Brigade, preventing it from participating in the fighting for Culp’s Hill that raged that evening. After arriving at Gettysburg on July 2 and witnessing the climax of the fighting at Brinkerhoff’s Ridge, Stuart knew that if he could defeat Gregg’s troopers, he could dash thousands of his own men behind enemy lines and wreak havoc. The ambitious offensive thrust resulted the following day in a giant clash of horse and steel on East Cavalry Field. The combat featured artillery duels, dismounted fighting, hand-to-hand engagements, and the most magnificent mounted charge and countercharge of the entire Civil War. This fully revised edition of Protecting the Flank at Gettysburg is the most detailed tactical treatment of the fighting on Brinkerhoff’s Ridge yet published, and includes a new Introduction, a detailed walking and driving tour with GPS coordinates, and a new appendix refuting claims that Stuart’s actions on East Cavalry Field were intended to be coordinated with the Pickett/Pettigrew/Trimble attack on the Union center on the main battlefield.

Gettysburg's Forgotten Cavalry Actions

Gettysburg's Forgotten Cavalry Actions
Author: Eric J. Wittenberg
Publisher: Grub Street Publishers
Total Pages: 318
Release: 2011-10-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 1611210712

An award-winning historical study of the important role played by Union and Confederate horse soldiers on the Civil War battlefield at Gettysburg. The Union army’s victory at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on July 3, 1863, is widely considered to have been the turning point in America’s War between the States. But the valuable contributions of the mounted troops, both Northern and Rebel, in the decisive three-day conflict have gone largely unrecognized. Acclaimed Civil War historian Eric J. Wittenberg now gives the cavalries their proper due. In Gettysburg’s Forgotten Cavalry Actions, Wittenberg explores three important mounted engagements undertaken during the battle and how they influenced the final outcome. The courageous but doomed response by Brig. Gen. Elon J. Farnsworth’s cavalry brigade in the wake of Pickett’s Charge is recreated in fascinating detail, revealing the fatal flaws in the general’s plan to lead his riders against entrenched Confederate infantry and artillery. The tenacious assault led by Brig. Gen. Wesley Merritt on South Cavalry Field is also examined, as is the strategic victory at Fairfield by Southern troops that nearly destroyed the Sixth US Cavalry and left Hagerstown Road open, enabling General Lee’s eventual retreat. Winner of the prestigious Bachelder-Coddington Award for historical works concerning the Battle of Gettysburg, Eric J. Wittenberg’s Gettysburg’s Forgotten Cavalry Actions rights a long-standing wrong by lifting these all-important engagements out of obscurity. A must-read for Civil War buffs everywhere, it completes the story of the battle that changed American history forever.

Protecting the Flank

Protecting the Flank
Author: Eric J. Wittenberg
Publisher: Ironclad Publishing
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2002
Genre: Gettysburg Campaign, 1863
ISBN: 9780967377025

Award-winning historian Eric J. Wittenberg has written a comprehensive sudy of the critical actions on Brinkerhoff's Ridge and East Cavalry Field, fought on July 2 and 3, 1863. In these actions, Union Brig. Gen. David M. Gregg's Second Cavalry Division fought two protracted and important actions along the Union right flank. The fight for Brinkerhoff's Ridge, although relatively small in numbers, prevented the legendary Stonewall Brigade from participating in the Confederate assaults on Culp's Hill, perhaps tipping the balance in the struggle for the hill. Wittenberg presents a new and controversial theory for why Maj. Gen. JEB Stuart's Confederate cavalry appeared on Cress Ridge on East Cavalry Field on the afternoon of July 3, 1863. After a long and bloody dismounted fight, Brig. Gen. George Armstrong Custer's Michigan Cavalry Brigade helped to repulse a massed mounted charge by three brigades of Southern horsemen, securing the Union right flank, and helping to clinch the Northern victory at Gettysburg. Wittenberg weaves the stories of soldiers together with a keen understanding of the terrain and presents a compelling story that features six fine maps by John C. Heiser and forty illustrations. The book also includes a driving tour guide of the Brinkerhoff's Ridge and East Cavalry Field battlefields that includes an additional twenty photographs of modern-day views of these sites. This book is a must for all Gettysburg and cavalry buffs. Volume One of the Discovering Civil War America series.

Culp's Hill

Culp's Hill
Author: John Cox
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Total Pages: 185
Release: 2009-09-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 0786751657

It was the anchor of the Union defensive line at Gettysburg--and the key to victory--but despite repeated heroic assaults, the Confederates could not dislodge its defenders.

Defending the Union Left Flank

Defending the Union Left Flank
Author: B. Thomas Kopac
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2009-02
Genre: Gettysburg, Battle of, Gettysburg, Pa., 1863
ISBN: 9781608131808

The Battle of Gettysburg continues to capture the interest of people. The magnitude and scale of the battle draws thousands of visitors to the National Military Park each year. The area of greatest interest is the Union left flank. Devilas Den, the Wheatfield, and Little Round Top are some of the most highly visited areas of that hallowed ground. It was here that the fiercest fighting took place. Defense of this area was given to General Dan Sickles. Sickles failed to follow orders and committed one of the greatest blunders of the war. Failure to secure Little Round Top was a costly error for the Army of the Potomac. Separating his corps from the army and creating a vulnerable salient, Sickles almost lost the Battle of Gettysburg. This book is an in-depth look at the life and military career of this highly controversial general and his actions at the Battle of Gettysburg.

"Stand to It and Give Them Hell"

Author: John Michael Priest
Publisher: Savas Publishing
Total Pages: 537
Release: 2014-06-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 1611211778

“[A] stirring narrative of the common soldier’s experiences on the southern end of the battlefield on the second day of fighting at Gettysburg.” —Civil War News “Stand to It and Give Them Hell” chronicles the Gettysburg fighting from Cemetery Ridge to Little Round Top on July 2, 1863, through the letters, memoirs, diaries, and postwar recollections of the men from both armies who struggled to control that “hallowed ground.” John Michael Priest, dubbed the “Ernie Pyle” of the Civil War soldier by legendary historian Edwin C. Bearss, wrote this book to help readers understand and experience, as closely as possible through the written word, the stress and terror of that fateful day in Pennsylvania. Nearly sixty detailed maps, mostly on the regimental level, illustrate the tremendous troop congestion in the Wheatfield, the Peach Orchard, and Devil’s Den. They accurately establish, by regiment or company, the extent of the Federal skirmish line from Ziegler’s Grove to the Slyder farm and portray the final Confederate push against the Codori farm and the center of Cemetery Ridge, which three Confederate divisions—in what is popularly known as Pickett’s Charge—would unsuccessfully attack on the final day of fighting. “‘Stand to It and Give Them Hell’ puts a human face on the second day of the nation’s epic Civil War battle . . . Mike Priest has taken a familiar story and somehow made it fresh and new. It is simply first-rate.” —Lance J. Herdegen, award-winning author of Union Soldiers in the American Civil War “Remarkable . . . Priest’s distinctive style is rife with anecdotes, many drawn from obscure diaries and letters, artfully stitched together in an original manner.” —David G. Martin, author of The Shiloh Campaign

Chancellorsville Staff Ride: Briefing Book [Illustrated Edition]

Chancellorsville Staff Ride: Briefing Book [Illustrated Edition]
Author: Ted Ballard
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
Total Pages: 136
Release: 2014-08-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1782898565

Contains more than 20 maps, diagrams and illustrations Although "Fighting Joe" Hooker skillfully executes a well-conceived plan and out-flanks his adversary, months of offensive planning are shelved as he suddenly orders his army on the defensive. Lee seizes the initiative and achieves what has often been called his most brilliant victory. How could this happen when Hooker's army outnumbers that of Lee 2 to 1 and is far superior in artillery and logistics? Answers to these and other questions concerning leadership, communications, use of terrain, and the psychology of men in battle, are often found by personal reconnaissance of the battlefield. This book offers a staff ride briefing of Chancellorsville. Since 1906 staff rides have been used to in the education of U.S. Army officers to narrow the gap between peacetime training and war.

Lee's Real Plan at Gettysburg

Lee's Real Plan at Gettysburg
Author: Troy D. Harman
Publisher: Stackpole Books
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2003-07-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 081174101X

For almost 100 years, analysis of the Gettysburg Campaign has centered around an oversimplified view of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's goals for the battle. Lee's Real Plan at Gettysburg presents a provocative new theory regarding Lee's true tactical objectives during this pivotal battle of the American Civil War.

RIGHT FLANK AT GETTYSBURG

RIGHT FLANK AT GETTYSBURG
Author: William Brooke 1843-1915 Rawle
Publisher: Wentworth Press
Total Pages: 38
Release: 2016-08-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781372491184

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