The purpose of this paper is to perform a mission command analysis of the Battle of Gettysburg, honing in on Pickett’s Charge. The Battle of Gettysburg took place on July 1st through July 3rd in 1863 in the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The belligerents were the Army of the Potomac, led by MG George G. Meade and the Army of Northern Virginia, led by GEN Robert E. Lee. The goal is to analyze the decisions of GEN Lee using the six mission command principles described in the Army Doctrine Publication 6-0 and then assess the outcome of those decisions. The Army of Northern Virginia under the leadership of GEN Lee decided to advance north in and invade the state of Pennsylvania in an attempt to bring the war to the north and coerce their politicians …show more content…
To the south stands Cemetery Hill, Culp’s Hill, both less than a mile from town. They are part of a larger ridge that ends about 3 miles from town ending in Little Round Top and Big Round Top. On the 1st of July, the Confederate Forces occupied one mile east of the eastern ridge where they set up their artillery while the Union Forces occupied the southern hilltops and the eastern hilltops where naturally, they placed their artillery. Confederate and Union Forces met at around 0730 as Confederate General Heth advanced on Union General John Buford and the defensive line of the Union Army along the eastern ridgeline . The two Armies were both surprised with the situation they found themselves in because before their meeting, they knew little of each others capabilities and had, for quite sometime, been traveling blind yet parallel to each other …show more content…
Both Armies repositioned their artillery to the most advantageous position but it appeared that the Army of Northern Virginia had surrounded the Army of the Potomac but in a less defensible position. When two Armies meet on a battlefield the overall objective is to eliminate the opposition, so one of them would have to make a move. Lee ordered Generals Longstreet and Ewell to attack but due to a lack of decisive action on Longstreet’s part, the day would end in the bloodiest offensive of the battle and Longstreet would suffer great losses by Cemetery Hill .
The 3rd of July would bring the end of the Battle of Gettysburg and the most infamous attack in The Civil War. The Army of Northern Virginia, despite their losses on the 2nd of July, was still in somewhat of a good position and had worn down the edges of the Union lines. With this being done, Lee wanted to focus on the center of the Union line so he ordered a frontal attack that presented itself as the infamous attack known as “Pickett’s Charge” . The aftermath would be total loss of the battle and the eventual withdrawal of the Army of Northern Virginia, followed by the steady decline of the
From July 1st to July 3rd, 1863, the most famous and most important Civil War Battle took place in the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Confederates under Robert E. Lee advanced on the Union in hopes of taking the major city of Philadelphia, Baltimore, or even Washington D.C. Union commander General George Meade was sent to make sure none of this would happen. General Robert E. Lee was determined to invade the North and win a victory important for southern morale, leads his army toward Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he hopes to destroy railroad bridges linking east with west. He is unaware that a large union force headed by General Meade is headed in the same direction.
COL Prescott’s role in the Battle of Bunker Hill, or more correctly know as the Battle of Breed’s Hill, is a great example of how to properly execute mission command. An overview from The Cowpens Staff Ride and Battlefield Tour (Moncure) reveals a number of operation and strategic objectives that the American militia had to consider. In this instance, COL Prescott takes charge of 1200 men with instructions to defend against incoming British forces that were seeking to occupy the surrounding hills during the Siege of Boston campaign. COL Prescott utilized a variety of steps in the operations process that contributed to his expert utilization of mission command over his forces. Through various sources from published works by experts on the subject, COL Prescott’s mission command demonstrates its effectiveness in his understanding of the situation against the British, his visualization to create an end state for t...
After the Confederate victory at Chancellorsville in May of 1863, General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia embarked on their 2nd invasion of the north. General Lee’s first campaign into the north resulted in the Confederate defeat at Antietam. The failure of Lee’s first northern campaign raises the question of his motives. The Confederate Army was...
At the end of his “March to the Sea”, MG William T. Sherman led Union forces from Georgia to the north through the Carolinas to unite with LTG Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia. By doing so, he believed he would be able to cut Confederate forces General Robert E. Lee’s supply lines. In February 1865, MG Sherman captured Columbia, the state capital of South Carolina. The commander of Confederate forces was LTG Wade Hampton who led the force under the command of General P.G.T Beauregard. MG Sherman succeeded in defeating Confederate on the basis of the principles of mission command.
Robert E. Lee was a fundamental part of the Civil War, and the failure of the Battle of Gettysburg. Lee was a major contributor to the Confederates battle against the Union, positively and negatively. Controversially Lee played a major part in why the South did so well, but also ultimately brought the Confederacy to its defeat against the north at the Battle of Gettysburg. The Battle of Gettysburg was a three-day battle and Pickett’s charge took place on the last day at Gettysburg. At the end of the second day at Gettysburg it looked as if the Confederates had control of the battle but on the third day when Pickett’s Charge took place, the Confederates lost the battle to the North. Who was responsible for the failure of “Pickett’s Charge” and the subsequent defeat of the Confederate Army at the Battle of Gettysburg?
The Battle of Antietam could have been a devastating and fatal blow to the Confederate Army if Gen. McClellan acted decisively, took calculated risks, and veered away from his cautious approach to war. There are many instances leading up to the battle and during the battle in which he lacks the necessary offensive initiative to effectively cripple and ultimately win the war. This paper is intended to articulate the failure of Mission Command by GEN McClellan by pointing out how he failed to understand, visualize, describe and direct the battlefield to his benefit.
Therefore, neither of the generals exceeded the other when it comes to military strategies, which rather debunks Shaara’s depiction of Longstreet’s advanced knowledge of modern warfare. Despite of the importance of the Battle of Gettysburg, often marked as the turning point of the war, General Longstreet should not obey an order that results in a significant loss of men that would be extremely difficult to replace at this time. Already limited by the amount of men still able to fight, pushing additional forces in an open battle would just nearly deplete the confederate soldiers completely. Since this battle was one that went on until a majority of ones sided were depleted, the south should have played it safe against the Unions nearly surplus supply of
It all started in the year 1862. General George McCellen currently controls the army of the Potomac. When it was determined that McCellen was a bad general, in December of 1862 he was replaced with General Ambrose Burnside. Within a week, Burnside decided on a campaign to the Southern capitol, Richmond. He told his plans to Lincoln and Lincoln approved, but told Burnside the only way for a win was to move quickly. Burnside split his group into three grand divisions, each with two corps. Burnside’s division arrives first at Fredericksburg; when he arrived there weren’t many Confederates. After Burnside’s arrival there was a swarm of Confederates who arrived. The problem was, that while the Confederates moved into position, General Burnside had to wait for pontoon builders so they could cross the Rappahannock River. (See Map1) He had requested pontoons from Harper’s Ferry but they hadn’t arrived yet and came two weeks later. This gave the Confederates time to get an advantageous position over the Union. While Burnside waited he looked at the town from on top of a ridge.
In order to receive a victory in the Battle of the Bulge, General Patton used Mission Command Analysis in order to understand how he can be successful for this mission. The first thing of understanding t...
Before the battle, major cities in the North such as Philadelphia, Baltimore, and even Washington, were under threat of attack from General Robert E. Lee?s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia which had crossed the Potomac River and marched into Pennsylvania.
The Battle of Antietam on September 17th, 1862 was the single, most bloodiest day in American History, where more than 23,000 men became casualties of war. General George Brinton McClellan’s inability to use Mission Command, as a warfighting function was a key reason this battle did not end the American Civil War. An analysis of General McClellan’s Mission Command operational process will show how his personality, bias, and fear were detrimental to the outcome of the Battle of Antietam.
Both forces were moving towards Pennsylvania, when they converged upon Gettysburg. General Lee decided to take the fighting to Northern soil, and moved his troops to Maryland. While heading north, the two forces converged at Gettysburg, and the fighting began soon thereafter. After news of the fighting, General Meade arrived on the battlefield on the second day of battle..
Leahy, Stephen M. "The Historical Battle over Dispatching American Troops." USA Today (Farmingdale). July 1999: 10-12. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 May. 2014.
Lee is very quick; he organized scattered confederate troops into the famed Army of Northern Virginia in just three weeks. Lee’s wisdom urged him to keep the Union as far away as possible from the armament producing center of Richmond and far away from the northern part of the state where farmers were harvesting crops. Lee knows that defeats of such decisive sports will weaken our will to continue the war, and he prevented this at all costs.
Sears’ thesis is the Union could have won the war faster. McClellan was an incompetent commander and to take the initiative to attack an defeat the Confederate army. The Army of Northern Virginia, under...