The Terrain at Little Round Top
Was the terrain on July 2, 1863 the same on Little Round Top as depicted in the film? For some reason, I think it was more barren.
shareI'll try to find this little piece of info. LTR was pretty barren around the front of it because the owner had been cutting timber since spring. The area between the two hills and the flank where the 20th Maine was posted was still wooded. I've read a couple of books and several articles on Gettysburg in the past few months, but I do recall reading that.
When we visited the park in '95 it was very barren, as Hood called it, "that rocky little hill." Of course this was just a couple of years after the movie was made.
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I'd appreciate it. I'm so curious to know what the terrain was. It makes quite a difference if it was heavily wooded or partially or barren.
I'm hoping the way it was depicted in the film is historically correct.
I can't find the reference to the logging, but pictures and drawings in Edward Stackpole's book "They Met at Gettysburg" the eastern approaches looked pretty barren with a small stand of trees at its base, but no trees on the slope itself. By his description, BRT, the saddle and the south side of LRT were so woody that units positioned on that side couldn't lend supporting fire to each other.
I'll keep looking for the logging statement.
So, as I understand it, the bottom of the hill was barren but the top was, as in the film, right?
shareNo, the western slope which faced toward Devil's Den, the wheat field, the peach orchard and the Confederate lines was barren and rocky pretty much all the way to where General Warren and the Signal Corps detachment were originally, almost to the ridge. The southern slope was moderately wooded, and the southeastern slope, now known as Vincent's Spur, was thickly wooded all the way to the ridge. The position of the 20th Maine at the extreme tip of Vincent's Spur isn't more than about 50 to 75 yards from Warren's position, but there is that drastic a contrast in vegetation.
shareVery interesting. I wonder what the terrain was EAST of the 20th Maine. It makes me think that the 20th Maine, being the last regiment on the eastern flank, was made the last defensive position due to the growth there compared to the regiments west of the 20th Maine who were stationed on barren ground.
That the tactics involved was not to have the extreme flank on barren ground but instead to have the furthest regiment holding a wooded position.
So, again, I wonder what was to the east of the 20th Maine. Another question is why the confederate army didn't try to go east of the 20th Maine. Their tactic of head-on attacking, round after round, seems senseless. Instead of a head-on confrontation why didn't they try to go totally around the 20th Maine on their eastern side and outflanking the whole Union left flank? Was it because of the terrain east of the 20th Maine???
Remember that, just as the 20th Maine was the far left of the Federal line, the troops facing them (mainly the 15th Alabama) were the far right of the Confederate. To have moved farther right, they would have to have broken contact with the rest of their brigade and headed out into what was essentially unknown terrain. They had no idea what was out there or how many Federal reinforcements might have been coming up; in fact, the Federal 5th Corps was arriving on the field, with (IIRC) the 6th behind them. The nearest source of Confederate reinforcements, the rest of Hood's Division, was quite some distance away and already heavily engaged. It would have been reckless in the extreme to have gone farther right.
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Observations: The attack on the Union left was carried out by too few southern troops. If they couldn't outflank the union left, then they also hadn't scouted what was to the left of the 20th Maine. This proves even more how Lee shouldn't of fought at Gettysburg. In relation to the Union army, the South had too few troops. If they had enough troops, then the Southern right flank could've outnumbered the Union left at Little Round Top. Its either this, or the Southern troops were not deployed correctly on July 2nd. Lee had simply not provided enough men for the attack on the Union left flank.
This could mean that even if the 20th Maine had collapsed and the Southern right flank attacked the Union army from this side, they wouldn't have had enough men to disperse the rest of the Union army, due to mathematics. Plus the 15th Alabama had been marching all day to come into position and were quite tired by the time their attack was started. And of course, they were charging up a hill.
In other words, Lee underestimated the amount of Union troops on the Union left (and the whole Union army)flank and didn't provide enough manpower to succeed on July 2nd. This and Pickett's Charge are 2 examples of how Lee wasted his manpower and southern troops were massacered for no military reason.
Wasn't this that Longstreet had warned Lee about on the morning of July 2nd? To pick another place to do battle?
The more I learn about Gettysburg, the more I realize that Lee totally wasted many southern lives by insisting on fighting here. I know in a way he was forced to fight here, but he let himself be carried away and should've picked better ground.
I guess he was desperate but attacking the Union left flank so late in the day with tired troops also proves he lost the sense of reality of this battlefield.
Salmonit, if you can get Volume 2 of Shelby Foote's Civil War trilogy, just read Ch. 5, "The Stars in Their Courses." IMO it's one of the better tellings of the events surrounding the Gettysburg campaign that gives enough detail without being overwhelming in minutae to make it a thorough telling. If you saw Shelby Foote in that PBS-Ken Burns Civil War program from the '90s, he's just as interesting to read as he is to listen to.
Stephen Sears' "Gettysburg" is more detailed, and also a good read.
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I remember Shelby Foote very well from that documentary. He was incredibly interesting to listen to and really captured ones imagination.
I will do what I can to find it. I should read the whole collection of his
One day I gotta get to Gettysburg! Hopefully next summer.
He reads just like he sounds. I'm rereading the trilogy for the third time, am about 3/4 through vol. 1 now.
Hopefully you can find it at a library or if lucky, the whole trilogy at a used book store.
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