Gettysburg
is arguably the Army of the Potomac's only great victory on the battlefield. Army of the Potomac's did, of course, eventually force Lee's Army of Northern Virginia (ANV) from its impregnable Petersburg trenches. But Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse finally came when the Rebel army was so weakened that surrender was almost a foregone conclusion.
Therefore, such Union victories as the ones at Sayler's Creek and Five Forks in the final weeks before the historic surrender on April 9, 1865 can hardly be called great battlefield victories. While the AOP can only notch one momentous battlefield win onto their belt, they were, of course, on the winning side in lesser battles that did not ...
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a great victory? The odds were certainly against them in many ways. The AOP had become accustomed to losing a dangerous thing for any military unit where life and death depends, to a large degree, on the confidence of its officers and troops. Fresh from two devastating defeats within the past six months, the AOP was chasing a seemingly invincible fighting machine. A machine with the confidence, and the leadership, to continue its winning ways. To heighten the odds against the blue underdogs, they were given a new commander, Major General George Meade, only four days before they were to fight what would become the battle of their lives. So why did the Yanks win at ? The men in blue fought like demons along their line, of this there is no doubt.
But these Billy Yanks had fought admirably before only to be ultimately defeated. While it was the 90,000 front-line men who held their own, ultimately giving better than they got, in the final analysis something else must help explain this ...
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the ranking Union commander when he arrived on the field, and he never gave retreat a thought. Like Buford, he recognized the importance of holding the high ground south and east of . Within an hour and at Reynolds' urging, the famous Iron Brigade quick-timed onto the field and slammed into Heth's Rebels. Suddenly the graybacks, facing infantry and not just dismounted cavalry, retreated back across Willoughby Run, a small stream a mile or so west of . Reynolds' decisiveness in committing his troops without delay was the last contribution he would make for his country. Within minutes of arriving on the field, directing sorely needed reinforcements to Buford's hard-pressed cavalry, this ...
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Gettysburg. (2004, February 13). Retrieved November 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Gettysburg/3012
"Gettysburg." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 13 Feb. 2004. Web. 23 Nov. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Gettysburg/3012>
"Gettysburg." Essayworld.com. February 13, 2004. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Gettysburg/3012.
"Gettysburg." Essayworld.com. February 13, 2004. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Gettysburg/3012.
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