I was watching a show on THC about Gettysburg. Amazingly they repeated several myths. They claimed that the battle began because Confederate soldiers were looking for shoes. There was no shoe factory or warehouse in Gettysburg. The Confederate soldiers would have had to have been incredibly stupid to believe they could get shoes for an army of 75,000 from a town of only 2,000. That never happened.
The show suggested that the first day's victory for the Confederates was only a skirmish and that the real fighting began the following day after the Union soldiers had retreated to Cemetery Ridge. Ridiculous. On the first day, the Union army was in defensive positions along Seminary Ridge, Oak Ridge, and Blocher's Knoll after pulling back from McPherson's Ridge and Herr Ridge. 50,000 men were involved in the battle and there were over 15,000 casualties, which would make this the 12th worst battle in the entire war.
It was next suggested that if Lee had beaten the Union army that he could have threatened Washington DC, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. Well, he certainly could have threatened Washington DC. However, I'm not sure what good it would have done. The US capital had been in Philadelphia and New York as well as several other places. It also didn't seem to have any great effect when the capitol was burned during the War of 1812. Strangely enough, Lee had originally wanted a second Confederate force to advance on Washington DC while he was invading with his force. I'm puzzled what he thought could have been gained by this.
Baltimore is questionable. Richmond VA only had a population of 38,000 in 1860 and held about 75% of the all the manufacturing in the Confederacy. The loss of Richmond would have been crippling and it could have been taken with a fairly small army. Baltimore had a population of 212,000 and was mostly a sea port. If the Washington garrison had retreated to Baltimore, they could probably have raised enough militia to hold out until relieved. Also, I don't see any big benefit to attacking Baltimore nor any ability to hold onto it. Baltimore was actually larger than the biggest city in the Confederacy, New Orleans, with 160,000. Cincinnati, Boston, and St. Louis were all about the size of New Orleans.
Philadelphia would have been impossible since it had a population of over half a million. It did in fact have a higher population than the entire state of Alabama. It's population was about half the size of the entire state of Virginia which was the highest population state in the Confederacy. Even if through some miracle, Lee's army could have sacked Philadelphia, this would not have crippled the Federal effort since Philadelphia was only about 1/3rd of Union manufacturing. The most effective thing Lee could have done would have been to destroy railroads and canals that ran across Pennsylvania. They probably would have had an easier time attacking Pittsburgh which only had a population around 80,000. It too was an important manufacturing city. Charles Dickens described it in 1841 as like Birmingham in England and famous for its ironworks. 3,000 cannon were cast there during the Civil War.
The show suggested that the first day's victory for the Confederates was only a skirmish and that the real fighting began the following day after the Union soldiers had retreated to Cemetery Ridge. Ridiculous. On the first day, the Union army was in defensive positions along Seminary Ridge, Oak Ridge, and Blocher's Knoll after pulling back from McPherson's Ridge and Herr Ridge. 50,000 men were involved in the battle and there were over 15,000 casualties, which would make this the 12th worst battle in the entire war.
It was next suggested that if Lee had beaten the Union army that he could have threatened Washington DC, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. Well, he certainly could have threatened Washington DC. However, I'm not sure what good it would have done. The US capital had been in Philadelphia and New York as well as several other places. It also didn't seem to have any great effect when the capitol was burned during the War of 1812. Strangely enough, Lee had originally wanted a second Confederate force to advance on Washington DC while he was invading with his force. I'm puzzled what he thought could have been gained by this.
Baltimore is questionable. Richmond VA only had a population of 38,000 in 1860 and held about 75% of the all the manufacturing in the Confederacy. The loss of Richmond would have been crippling and it could have been taken with a fairly small army. Baltimore had a population of 212,000 and was mostly a sea port. If the Washington garrison had retreated to Baltimore, they could probably have raised enough militia to hold out until relieved. Also, I don't see any big benefit to attacking Baltimore nor any ability to hold onto it. Baltimore was actually larger than the biggest city in the Confederacy, New Orleans, with 160,000. Cincinnati, Boston, and St. Louis were all about the size of New Orleans.
Philadelphia would have been impossible since it had a population of over half a million. It did in fact have a higher population than the entire state of Alabama. It's population was about half the size of the entire state of Virginia which was the highest population state in the Confederacy. Even if through some miracle, Lee's army could have sacked Philadelphia, this would not have crippled the Federal effort since Philadelphia was only about 1/3rd of Union manufacturing. The most effective thing Lee could have done would have been to destroy railroads and canals that ran across Pennsylvania. They probably would have had an easier time attacking Pittsburgh which only had a population around 80,000. It too was an important manufacturing city. Charles Dickens described it in 1841 as like Birmingham in England and famous for its ironworks. 3,000 cannon were cast there during the Civil War.
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