My preliminary analysis (like Montjoy, I'm not in much condition to respond articulately right now) is to agree wholeheartedly with your point #2. Ewell's misunderstanding of Lee's orders and nervous-nellie generalship was the biggest mistake made prior to Pickett's charge, and certainly would not have been made by Jackson. *
* caveat: Unless Stonewall was suffering from lack of beauty sleep, and fell into a Seven Days-type malaise, but I think that unlikely.
If the South had taken Culp's on the first day, it's not hard at all to imagine Gettysburg turning into Yet Another Bloody Nose for the Army of the Potomac, with a quick withdrawal to Meade's planned defensive line to follow. *
* caveat: Unless by this time somebody like Hancock had gotten sick of the timidity and ineptitude above him, and raised a posse to shoot every (other) Union officer with at least one star on his shoulder, in which case some plucky sergeant takes charge of the Army of the Potomac and wins the war in a week... but again, what are the odds? ;)
* caveat: Unless Stonewall was suffering from lack of beauty sleep, and fell into a Seven Days-type malaise, but I think that unlikely.
See, that's the thing. I'm not sure if I'm taking the loss of Jackson's arm into enough of account. What would that have done to the man?
* caveat: Unless by this time somebody like Hancock had gotten sick of the timidity and ineptitude above him, and raised a posse to shoot every (other) Union officer with at least one star on his shoulder,
Reorganize the Union Army into four Corps. Hancock commanding, Reynolds, Warren, Buford, and Sickles with the corps. (Sickles because there needs to be at least one oddball in every army)
in which case some plucky sergeant takes charge of the Army of the Potomac and wins the war in a week...
Okay, one thing I gotta say before I say anything else on the subject: with Stonewall Jackson still alive, there never would have been a Battle of Gettysburg. AP Hill's and Ewell's corps were, respectively, one corps under Jackson while he was alive. The agenda was a northward strike in order to take the fight to the enemy, in a similar style as at Sharpsburg the year before
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* caveat: Unless Stonewall was suffering from lack of beauty sleep, and fell into a Seven Days-type malaise, but I think that unlikely.
If the South had taken Culp's on the first day, it's not hard at all to imagine Gettysburg turning into Yet Another Bloody Nose for the Army of the Potomac, with a quick withdrawal to Meade's planned defensive line to follow. *
* caveat: Unless by this time somebody like Hancock had gotten sick of the timidity and ineptitude above him, and raised a posse to shoot every (other) Union officer with at least one star on his shoulder, in which case some plucky sergeant takes charge of the Army of the Potomac and wins the war in a week... but again, what are the odds? ;)
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* caveat: Unless Stonewall was suffering from lack of beauty sleep, and fell into a Seven Days-type malaise, but I think that unlikely.
See, that's the thing. I'm not sure if I'm taking the loss of Jackson's arm into enough of account. What would that have done to the man?
* caveat: Unless by this time somebody like Hancock had gotten sick of the timidity and ineptitude above him, and raised a posse to shoot every (other) Union officer with at least one star on his shoulder,
Reorganize the Union Army into four Corps. Hancock commanding, Reynolds, Warren, Buford, and Sickles with the corps. (Sickles because there needs to be at least one oddball in every army)
in which case some plucky sergeant takes charge of the Army of the Potomac and wins the war in a week...
An Irishman from Maine, no doubt?
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