Inside The Lines: Meade's Victory At Gettysburg

Inside The Lines: Meade's Victory At Gettysburg PDF Author: Major Phillip W. Chandler USMC
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1782897569
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 39

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Book Description
The concepts of interior and exterior lines gained prominence during the Napoleonic Era with the writings of Jomini. Interior Lines of Operation deal with forces whose operations diverge from a central point. The use of interior lines allows a commander to rapidly shift forces to the decisive point. The Battle of Gettysburg was a great historical example illustrating the impact of interior and exterior lines. At the Battle of Gettysburg, the Confederates uncharacteristically fought along exterior lines. Their lines of communication stretched from Pennsylvania through the Shenandoah Valley south to Richmond. This was an extremely precarious situation for General Lee and weighed heavily on his decisions at Gettysburg. The Army of the Potomac, under command of newly appointed General Meade, found themselves operating from interior lines at Gettysburg. On July 2 and 3, this became a major factor in General Meade’s ability to react to the offensive actions taken by the Army of Northern Virginia. I propose that Lines of Operations, as espoused by Jomini years earlier, was the decisive factor in the Gettysburg Campaign. I believe that the use of interior lines by General Meade, specifically throughout the day and night of Day 2 and again on day 3, allowed the Army of the Potomac to gain victory. The Army of Northern Virginia on several occasions achieved momentary breaks in the Union lines only to be repulsed by Union forces shifted from other positions. General Meade would not have been able to rapidly shift these forces to the decisive point unless he was operating on interior lines. Throughout the three days of battle, General Meade applied Operational Art in positioning his forces at the decisive time and place. One must keep in mind the significance of General Meade’s actions at Gettysburg. He defeated the venerable General Robert E. Lee on the battlefield, a feat elusive to all previous commanders of the Army of the Potomac.

Inside The Lines: Meade's Victory At Gettysburg

Inside The Lines: Meade's Victory At Gettysburg PDF Author: Major Phillip W. Chandler USMC
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1782897569
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 39

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Book Description
The concepts of interior and exterior lines gained prominence during the Napoleonic Era with the writings of Jomini. Interior Lines of Operation deal with forces whose operations diverge from a central point. The use of interior lines allows a commander to rapidly shift forces to the decisive point. The Battle of Gettysburg was a great historical example illustrating the impact of interior and exterior lines. At the Battle of Gettysburg, the Confederates uncharacteristically fought along exterior lines. Their lines of communication stretched from Pennsylvania through the Shenandoah Valley south to Richmond. This was an extremely precarious situation for General Lee and weighed heavily on his decisions at Gettysburg. The Army of the Potomac, under command of newly appointed General Meade, found themselves operating from interior lines at Gettysburg. On July 2 and 3, this became a major factor in General Meade’s ability to react to the offensive actions taken by the Army of Northern Virginia. I propose that Lines of Operations, as espoused by Jomini years earlier, was the decisive factor in the Gettysburg Campaign. I believe that the use of interior lines by General Meade, specifically throughout the day and night of Day 2 and again on day 3, allowed the Army of the Potomac to gain victory. The Army of Northern Virginia on several occasions achieved momentary breaks in the Union lines only to be repulsed by Union forces shifted from other positions. General Meade would not have been able to rapidly shift these forces to the decisive point unless he was operating on interior lines. Throughout the three days of battle, General Meade applied Operational Art in positioning his forces at the decisive time and place. One must keep in mind the significance of General Meade’s actions at Gettysburg. He defeated the venerable General Robert E. Lee on the battlefield, a feat elusive to all previous commanders of the Army of the Potomac.

Inside the Lines

Inside the Lines PDF Author: United States Marine Corp Command and Staff College
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781502945907
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 54

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Book Description
The concepts of interior and exterior lines gained prominence during the Napoleonic Era with the writings of Jomni. Interior Lines of Operation deal with forces whose operations diverge from a central point. The use of interior lines allows a commander to rapidly shift forces to the decisive point. The battle of Gettysburg was a great historical example illustrating the impact of interior and exterior lines. Throughout the three days of battle, General Meade applied Operational Art in positioning his forces at the decisive time and place. One must keep in mind the significance of General Meades actions at Gettysburg. He defeated the venerable General Robert E. Lee on the battlefield, a feat elusive to all previous commanders of the Army of the Potomac. This feat was made possible by the ability to decisively shape the battlefield using interior lines.

Meade at Gettysburg

Meade at Gettysburg PDF Author: Kent Masterson Brown, Esq.
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469662000
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 488

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Book Description
Although he took command of the Army of the Potomac only three days before the first shots were fired at Gettysburg, Union general George G. Meade guided his forces to victory in the Civil War's most pivotal battle. Commentators often dismiss Meade when discussing the great leaders of the Civil War. But in this long-anticipated book, Kent Masterson Brown draws on an expansive archive to reappraise Meade's leadership during the Battle of Gettysburg. Using Meade's published and unpublished papers alongside diaries, letters, and memoirs of fellow officers and enlisted men, Brown highlights how Meade's rapid advance of the army to Gettysburg on July 1, his tactical control and coordination of the army in the desperate fighting on July 2, and his determination to hold his positions on July 3 insured victory. Brown argues that supply deficiencies, brought about by the army's unexpected need to advance to Gettysburg, were crippling. In spite of that, Meade pursued Lee's retreating army rapidly, and his decision not to blindly attack Lee's formidable defenses near Williamsport on July 13 was entirely correct in spite of subsequent harsh criticism. Combining compelling narrative with incisive analysis, this finely rendered work of military history deepens our understanding of the Army of the Potomac as well as the machinations of the Gettysburg Campaign, restoring Meade to his rightful place in the Gettysburg narrative.

Searching for George Gordon Meade

Searching for George Gordon Meade PDF Author: Tom Huntington
Publisher: Stackpole Books
ISBN: 0811708136
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 418

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Book Description
A historian's investigation of the life and times of Gen. George Gordon Meade to discover why the hero of Gettysburg has failed to achieve the status accorded to other generals of the conflict.

General Meade and the Battle of Gettysburg

General Meade and the Battle of Gettysburg PDF Author: Charles Devens
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Gettysburg, Battle of, Gettysburg, Pa., 1863
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description


George Gordon Meade and the War in the East

George Gordon Meade and the War in the East PDF Author: Ethan Sepp Rafuse
Publisher: Civil War Campaigns & Commande
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
Even though he defeated Robert E. Lee in the Civil War's greatest battle, George Gordon Meade has never enjoyed a prominent place in the pantheon of Union war heroes. To most students of the Civil War, he is merely the man who was lucky enough to benefit from Confederate mistakes at Gettysburg, but whose shortcomings as a commander compelled Abraham Lincoln to bring in Ulysses S. Grant from the West to achieve victory. In this, the first book-length study of the general to appear in a generation, Ethan S. Rafuse challenges the notion that Meade was simply the last in a long line of failed Union commanders in the East. Instead, George Gordon Meade and the War in the East offers a balanced, informative, and complete, yet concise, reconsideration of the general's life and career. It also provides keen analysis of the military and political factors that shaped operations in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, and delineates the sources of tension between Washington and the Army of the Potomac high command that played such an important role in shaping the war in the Eastern Theater. This study will appeal to anyone with an interest in Meade and the politics of command in the Civil War, and encourage reconsideration of traditional interpretations of the Union war effort in the East.

Meade and Lee After Gettysburg

Meade and Lee After Gettysburg PDF Author: Jeffrey Wm Hunt
Publisher: Grub Street Publishers
ISBN: 1611213444
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
This “very satisfying blow-by-blow account of the final stages of the Gettysburg Campaign” fills an important gap in Civil War history (Civil War Books and Authors). Winner of the Gettysburg Civil War Round Table Book Award This fascinating book exposes what has been hiding in plain sight for 150 years: The Gettysburg Campaign did not end at the banks of the Potomac on July 14, but deep in central Virginia two weeks later along the line of the Rappahannock. Contrary to popular belief, once Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia slipped across the Potomac back to Virginia, the Lincoln administration pressed George Meade to cross quickly in pursuit—and he did. Rather than follow in Lee’s wake, however, Meade moved south on the east side of the Blue Ridge Mountains in a cat-and-mouse game to outthink his enemy and capture the strategic gaps penetrating the high wooded terrain. Doing so would trap Lee in the northern reaches of the Shenandoah Valley and potentially bring about the decisive victory that had eluded Union arms north of the Potomac. The two weeks that followed resembled a grand chess match with everything at stake—high drama filled with hard marching, cavalry charges, heavy skirmishing, and set-piece fighting that threatened to escalate into a major engagement with the potential to end the war in the Eastern Theater. Throughout, one thing remains clear: Union soldiers from private to general continued to fear the lethality of Lee’s army. Meade and Lee After Gettysburg, the first of three volumes on the campaigns waged between the two adversaries from July 14 through the end of July, 1863, relies on the official records, regimental histories, letters, newspapers, and other sources to provide a day-by-day account of this fascinating high-stakes affair. The vivid prose, coupled with original maps and outstanding photographs, offers a significant contribution to Civil War literature. Named Eastern Theater Book of the Year byCivil War Books and Authors

The Victor of Gettysburg

The Victor of Gettysburg PDF Author: Charles River Charles River Editors
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781985884861
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 150

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Book Description
*Includes pictures of Meade and important people, places, and events in his life. *Includes excerpts of Meade's Civil War letters to his wife. *Includes a Bibliography for further reading. "Meade has more than met my most sanguine expectations. He and Sherman are the fittest officers for large commands I have come in contact with." - Ulysses S. Grant, 1864 Ironically, one of the generals who often escapes the attention of Civil War fans who compile the lists of best generals is the man who won the war's most famous battle, George G. Meade (1815-1872). In fact, Meade has become a perfect example of how the generals who did not self-promote themselves and write memoirs after the war had their reputations suffer in the ensuing decades. When people think of Appomattox Court House, they think of Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee. Few remember that the commander of the Army of the Potomac at the end of the Civil War was not Grant but Meade. Meade exemplified modesty and competence, serving as a career United States Army officer and civil engineer who fought with distinction in the eastern theater of the Civil War. During the first half of the war, Meade rose from command of a brigade to command of a division and finally command of the entire Army of the Potomac just days before the Battle of Gettysburg. Naturally, he is best known for defeating Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at Gettysburg in July 1863, although he's not nearly as well remembered as his Confederate counterpart, and he has even been eclipsed in popularity by some of the men he commanded at Gettysburg, like Joshua Chamberlain. If Meade distinguished himself at places like Antietam and Gettysburg, why is he frequently left out of the historical narrative of the war? Meade had a notoriously short temper that hurt his popularity with the press, his men and contemporaries during the war, despite how well he commanded. Perhaps more importantly, Meade's relatively early death in the decade after the war prevented him from defending his record and his decisions during and after Gettysburg. Lincoln mistakenly thought Meade blundered by not being more aggressive in pursuit of Lee after Gettysburg, when in fact Lee's men constructed strong defenses and invited attack on a number of occasions during their retreat. Just as significantly, Meade came under attack by generals like Daniel Sickles, who sought to shield themselves from scrutiny by blaming Meade for poor decisions. On Day 2 of the Battle of Gettysburg, Sickles disobeyed Meade and moved his III Corps out in front of the rest of the army. Although he would constantly defend his maneuver, the move destroyed his corps and nearly ruined the Army of the Potomac's left flank, creating a salient that led to the near annihilation of the corps. Sickles and Meade would feud over the actions on Day 2 in the years after the war, with Meade explaining his actions, and Sickles taking credit for the victory by disrupting Lee's attack plans. While historians have taken Meade's side since, Sickles outlived Meade and helped tarnish the commanding general's reputation after the war, helping cast a shadow over Meade's record for nearly a century. Today historians credit Meade with doing a solid job at Gettysburg, but no self-effusive praise was forthcoming from the man himself. The Victor of Gettysburg: The Life and Career of General George Meade chronicles the life and career of the commanding general at Gettysburg, but it also humanizes the man who somehow managed to be both modest and short-tempered at the same time. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events in his life, you will learn about General Meade like you never have before, in no time at all.

Meade

Meade PDF Author: Richard Allen Sauers
Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.
ISBN: 1612340644
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 150

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Book Description
"Most students of the American Civil War know the name George Gordon Meade, but few can tell you about the man. Rising from the Union officer corps to lead the previously ill-fated Army of the Potomac, Meade took overall command only hours before his forces encountered Robert E. Lee's Confederates at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in the summer of 1863." "Historian Richard Sauers shows that while Meade led his men to victory in one of the most famous battles in history, he was soon embroiled in political battles with fellow generals and Washington politicians. Despite detractors' efforts to question Meade's judgment and smear his reputation - efforts often exacerbated by the general's own volatile temper and undiplomatic behavior - he continued to put duty to his country and his men first. When Ulysses S. Grant was named lieutenant general in charge of all Union forces, Grant made his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac and soon overshadowed Meade. Sauers chronicles the tense relationship that developed between the two men and the effect it had on the crucial last days of the war." "This concise but authoritative account is the only recent biography of Meade and should spark renewed study of one of the Civil War's most underrated leaders."--Jacket

The Gettysburg Address

The Gettysburg Address PDF Author: Abraham Lincoln
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141956631
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 114

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Book Description
The Address was delivered at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, during the American Civil War, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the decisive Battle of Gettysburg. In just over two minutes, Lincoln invoked the principles of human equality espoused by the Declaration of Independence and redefined the Civil War as a struggle not merely for the Union, but as "a new birth of freedom" that would bring true equality to all of its citizens, and that would also create a unified nation in which states' rights were no longer dominant. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.