Thursday
7 October 1999
0700-1700 (Staff Ride)
Well, we may fight it out here just as well as anywhere else.
George G. Meade
Introduction:
Many historians consider the battle of Gettysburg to be the turning point of the American Civil War. After the battle, they argue, Confederate fortunes declined steadily until the final surrender of the major Confederate armies in April 1865. Other historians maintain that battle no longer was politically decisive. It took, after all, another two years after Gettysburg for the war to end. British military theorist J.F.C. Fuller claims that invention of rifled bullets, the steam engine, and the telegraph so changed the character of warfare that mass armies no longer could be defeated in a single day, in a single battle. Clearly, trends that had begun with the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, and had been analyzed by Jomini and Clausewitz, were continuing to evolve.
We are fortunate that the Gettysburg campaign was conducted between Washington and Gettysburg. We can traverse the ground, see much of it as the participants saw it, and study the outcome of the decisions made on the ground over which the battle was fought. During this topic, we will analyze national security strategy decisions, military strategy, operational art, the influence of terrain, the psychology of men in battle, and the validity of the theories studied thus far.
You will, undoubtedly, find many interesting tactical details of the battle, but stay focused on the "big picture." Remember that our primary concern is with the strategic and operational concepts that shaped the campaign. As you will see at Gettysburg, Clausewitz's notion of friction played a significant role in the implementation of strategy. In many cases, the battlefield designs of the various commanders were extremely simple-but achieving the objectives they sought proved enormously difficult.
Objectives:
- In light of the theories studied thus far, and your firsthand impressions of the Gettysburg battlefield, evaluate the soundness of the military strategies that resulted in the Battle of Gettysburg.
- Appreciate the practical aspects of waging war, especially how the Clausewitzian notion of friction can affect the implementation of a strategic plan.
Issues for Consideration:
- Which commander, Lee or Meade, better understood his national and strategic military objectives, the capabilities and vulnerabilities of his army, and how best to support attainment of the national objectives with the military instrument of power at his disposal?
- How did chance, uncertainty, friction, fog, perseverance and the iron will of the commander influence the outcome of the Gettysburg campaign?
- At the time of the Gettysburg campaign, what was the center of gravity on each side? How well did each commander's strategic design support the attainment of his government's political objectives?
- How important were the Jominian concepts of bases of operations, lines of operation, concentration, attack on the flank, decisive point, and interior or exterior lines in the thinking of Lee and Meade?
- Which moral and physical factors were most important in determining the outcome of the Gettysburg campaign?
Required Readings:
* Arthur V. Grant, Jr., "Gettysburg," The American Civil War, eds. Timothy H. Donovan, et al (West Point, NY: U.S. Military Academy, 1978), pp. 248-262. (Reprint)
* Michael Shaara, The Killer Angels (New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 1984), pp. 3-360. (Student Issue)
Supplemental Readings:
* Carl Smith, Gettysburg 1863: High Tide of the Confederacy (London: Reed Consumer Books Ltd., 1998). (Student Issue)
* Shelby Foote, The Civil War: A Narrative; Volume II: Fredericksburg to Meridian (New York: Random House, 1963), pp. 428-581.
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