Recently I enjoyed reading Cory Pfarr’s Longstreet
at Gettysburg: A Critical Appraisal.
This must-read book clears away decades of assumptions, conjectures and
surmises and leaves a more factual picture of Longstreet as a dutiful soldier
doing his best to carry out Robert E. Lee’s orders. Longstreet gets an ‘A’ from Pfarr. Lee, Ewell/Early, Hill and Stuart do not fare as well.
The book could have been better. Its analysis of July 2 rightly puts
responsibility for that day’s delays on Lee, Ewell/Early and Stuart but breaks
down, as Longstreet’s attack did, with Posey’s and Mahone’s brigades of
Anderson’s division. There’s no excuse
for that. Civil War Talks: Further
Reminiscences of George S. Bernard [12th Virginia] and His
Fellow Veterans (the sequel to Bernard’s 1892 War Talks of Confederate
Veterans) was published in 2012 and contains accounts of the activity of
Mahone’s brigade around nightfall on July 2, particularly shift to the
right followed by an advance toward Emmitsburg Road. A Pair of Blankets [61st
Virginia], published in 1911, also notes this movement. Hampton Newsome, who drew the map below, has excerpts from CWT at his blog at blogspot.com/2017/12/gettysburg-mahones-night-attack-july-2.html?m=1
Credit:
The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War, A History of the 12th
Virginia Infantry from John Brown’s Hanging to Appomattox (Savas Beatie,
2019), map drawn by Hampton Newsome[1]
Likewise, Longstreet at Gettysburg places the ultimate
responsibility for Pickett’s Charge on Lee and criticizes Hill for contributing
some of his most exhausted units rather than his freshest. However, if Pfarr had read Civil War Talks,
he would have known that like Wilcox’s and Lang’s brigades on July 3, Mahone’s
and (almost certainly) Posey’s and Wright’s brigades advanced in support of
Pickett’s Charge. Unlike Wilcox’s and
Lang’s brigades, Mahone’s, Posey’s and Wright’s brigades had the good fortune
to receive orders to halt almost as soon as they started. Under Both Flags (1896) also indicates
that Mahone participated very briefly in Pickett’s Charge. Pfarr argues that Longstreet had no second
wave, but Longstreet’s ability to call on Anderson’s division for support in
case of success adds up to the same thing.
Longstreet could have committed Anderson’s division whenever he pleased. That he wanted to only in the case of success
makes sense, but he waited too long for Anderson’s division to have made any
difference at all.
The maps are as good as the research permits. The map on page 137 should have Mahone's brigade in front of Davis' brigade. In Civil War Talks, one of Mahone's men described Davis' men stepping over them on the way to Cemetery Ridge on July 3.
The maps are as good as the research permits. The map on page 137 should have Mahone's brigade in front of Davis' brigade. In Civil War Talks, one of Mahone's men described Davis' men stepping over them on the way to Cemetery Ridge on July 3.
The perfect must not become the enemy of the good,
though. All students of the Civil War,
not just Gettysburg aficionados, should read Longstreet at Gettysburg.
John
Horn
Author,
The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War: A History of the 12th
Virginia Infantry from John Brown’s Hanging to Appomattox (Savas Beatie,
2019), which cites all the above sources except Longstreet at Gettysburg,
also published in 2019
[1] Hampton Newsome is the author of Richmond Must Fall and The Fight for the Old North State.
[1] Hampton Newsome is the author of Richmond Must Fall and The Fight for the Old North State.
