Subject: 3 days of Gettysburg strategy thoughts for the first day scenario From: "The Michaels" The battle of Gettysburg has been often reviewed and widely analyzed. Perhaps more books have been written on it than any other battle in history. The Army War College even conducts staff rides on the battlefield which is one of the best perserved in the nation. However, when I play the simulation created by Richard Berg several questions come to mind. First, why was John Reynolds so determined to fight at Gettysburg? General Meade had already selected a battlefield at Pipe Creek and did not want to fight there. When he arrived on the field on the 2nd of July he seriously considered pulling back to Pipe Creek. While the position at Gettysburg was a good position, it could be easily outflanked as Confederate General Longstreet recommended to his commander General Lee. I believe that he wanted to fight at Gettysburg because he knew that he was inside of the Confederate Army. Between newspapers, telegrams, Army intelligence and Buford's cavalry division, he knew that there were Confederate divisions near Harrisburg and Cashtown and that Gettysburg was in the middle. I think that his intent was to get between the parts of the Confederate Army and beat them in detail. This, had it been successfully accomplished would have been a recreation of Napoleon's Marengo campaign. It was the classic Napoleonic strategy; to concentrate on one small piece of the enemy army and defeat it in detail and then shift to the second. Unfortunately, General Reynolds was killed on the first day and therefore we will never know for certain why he wanted to fight at Gettysburg. Second, why did General Lee never manage to get more than four of his nine infantry divisions in action at any one time? He won a victory on the first day when he got four divisions simultaneously in the fight. Thereafter he was never able to get more than three in the fight at the same time. As a result he was never able to get the momentum to crush any part of the Yankee lines. Richard Berg's simulation does a good job of recreating these challenges. I will take and suggest some Yankee Strategies first followed by Confederate Strategies. Yankee Strategies On the morning of the first day, the Yankees have the initiative. At this point the Yankee commander has two choices to make; whether to attack the Confederate Forces or to delay the Confederate Forces. I know some readers are thinking ... attack? That is not what Buford did? There are a couple of reasons to think about attacking. First, Buford will generally get more activations than Heth. Second, Buford has superior weapons and mobility and can determine when and where the engagement takes place. Third, Heth's division is constrained in the map and can not manuever to best advantage. Fourth, Heth's division is really pretty poor other than Pettigrew's Brigade. Brockenbrough's brigade resembles the 11th Corps at its worst. Davis' Brigade is mostly green and susceptible to routing or disorganization. Archer has a decent brigade but it is small. With Archer and Davis in the initial lead, Buford can pretty much stop them or push them back easily.h In terms of reinforcements, a little force marching will bring Wadsworth's division into the fight and his division is probably the best in the game. They can stand up to and rout Heth's division. With any luck, Doubleday's division will also come up and now the odds are 3,000 Cavalry, 3,000 Wadsworth and 3,000 Doubleday against 5,400 or so of Lee's worst troops. Even with a battalion of artillery they are challenged to hold their own. By the time Pender's division and the rest of the artillery shows up Heth's division should be thoroughly wrecked. In addition, Robinson's division should be showing up and the leading elements of the 11th Corps. If you are able to wreck Pender's division as well, you win the scenario. The Confederate opponent now has to make a tough choice. Rodes Division will begin showing up on your flank. Also, Early's division will show up in your rear. As crazy as this sounds, ignore Early's division. It can't hurt you. Generally, what I like to do as the Yankee is shift the 1st Corps elements from attacking Heth and Pender to going after those elements of Rodes Divsion that are showing up on the flank. Six 1st Corps Brigades with an artillery battalion will tear through Iverson's Brigade in no time. At the same time the Cavalry will pull out on horses to move down Emitsburg road to delay the elements of Rodes Division on the other side of the mountain from getting in the fight. Howard's troops then attack (yes attack and attempt to melee) the remnants of Pender and Heth. Generally, I like to do wave attacks where one division advances and attacks with a second formed in its rear. Once the first is disorganized, I pull it back through and send the formed division forward. If your Confederate opponent moves Early's division at your rear, disengage and pull back along the ridge line toward the Round Tops. The arriving 12th Corps occupies Cemetary Hill and you have won. If Early moves to occupy Gettysburg, Culps Hill and Cemetary Hill, finsh the job on Rodes, Heth and Pender. When Anderson shows up pull back. You have still won. Confederate Strategy Notes Historically, Heth attacked the Yankee Cavalry. Historically he wrecked two brigades; Davis and Archer by doing this. As I have pointed out in the Yankee strategy section, you do not have the initiative and Heth's troops are really poor. Therefore, you should seek to create a defensive line with artillery and hold this line until Pender shows up or until you know that the Yankees are going to conduct a delay strategy. Further, be prudent, as was Lee historically, to not bring on a general engagement until you have four divisions on the field. Stand on defense until you have the advantage of strength. When you do attack keep one brigade per division in reserve to exploit opportunities. Yankee Strategy Notes The second option for the Yankees is to build defenses on Culp's and Cemetary Hill and to use the Cavalry and some infantry to conduct delaying actions. Generally, because of their high ratings, I like to use Wadsworth's division. Also this acts as a feint. The confederate, seeing Wadsworth and Buford coming for him does not know whether the Yankee strategy is to attack or delay. He only knows the truth when the follow on divisions stop and start digging in on the hills. At this point, the Yankee strategy is to force the Confederates to go to attack orders but then to move slowly out of range. Also, around 1100 they need to dispatch a cavalry brigade north of town to delay Rodes' deployment. Confederate Notes Once you are sure that the Yankees intend to delay you must attack aggressively to regain lost time. I also favor keeping pending in Marching orders and moving him to Seminary Ridge by outflanking the Federals. It also make sense to have Rodes in advance orders but Early in March Orders. Again, the challenge is to get to the hills and remove the Yankees who are now dug in with lots of artillery. It will be a near run thing between darkness coming and breaking the Yanks. The challenge for the Confederates is that there is really inadequate ground to form four full divisions. So part of the challenge will be deploying the division and then, due to woods on the left, getting Early into the fight with Rodes, Heth and Pender. You will find that part of Lee's historical challenge is that the battlefield narrows as you go past Gettysburg. Also, if you have had Heth and Pender's divisions beat up, you will no longer have the force to take and hold the hills. Good luck