GDG- Corp size at GB

[Chet Diestel]

Esteemed GDG Member Richard M. Kadas Contributes:

   Excellent point:
   I doubt if many who study GB haven't at one time wondered whether the 
size of the ANV's corps weren't the critical variable in the outcome of Day 
One.
   It seems that in general at GB the brigade and sometimes the division 
were both armies basic maneuver units. On both, the 2nd and 3rd day at GB 
the ANV's First Corps launched assaults composed of 2 divisions each. Except 
for Day One, was the corps used as a maneuver unit at GB? In that context, 
positioning, aggressiveness, as well as the greater size of the ANV's  corps 
seem to have contributed to the difference.  Even the administrative 
efficiency offered by the ANV's fewer, larger corps was unable to make up 
for its command staff deficiency.
   Dick

  While the three-corps organization of the ANV was certainly easier to 
handle in a march of maneuver, as was marked by the Gettysburg Campaign 
leading up to the battle, than the seven infantry corps of the AOP, 
especially in arriving on the battlefield in superior numbers as was 
illustrated on the First Day. (However, the composition of the divisions 
within the ANV with some having as many as five brigades was questionable.)
  However, how well the Confederate corps structure would function in battle 
remains unanswered for at no time was any of the three ANV corps committed 
to battle as a single entity.
  On Day 1, Longstreet wasn't up; Ewell had only Rhodes and Early present 
while the fighting was going on and Hill had just two divisions, Heth's and 
Pender's in the battle.
  On Day 2, Longstreet fought with only Hood's and McLaw's divisions; Ewell 
committed Early and Johnston, with Rhodes remaining largely idle; and only 
Anderson's Division of Hill's Corps made the assault.
  On Day 3, It was Pickett of Longstreet's Corps; Johnston's of Ewell's and 
Heth's and part of Pender's of Hill's corps that saw real action.
  So, it can well be argued that whatever the corps' size and organization 
of either army, the battle was fought largely with divisions as the 
instrument of maneuver.
   With regards,
     Chet