GDG- 20th Maine vs 137th NY

[Dennis Lawrence]

Hello,

My little brother has stood on Culp's Hill many times; to his credit he has 
noticed the trees there, but he also should have noted that Culp's Hill is 
considerably higher than Cemetery Hill and Steven's Knoll between the two. 
It would be no feat for a pioneer unit to clear any trees remaining on the 
crest - remember, the Union had cleared many already - and the Southern 
artillery would pulverize the Union position on Steven's Knoll and Cemetery 
Hill.

Remember what happened to the boy Major on Brenner's Hill, brother. The 
Confederates, desperate for an artillery position sent Latimer to his death 
seeking to neutralize Union artillery before an attack by infantry. Had 
they instead been able to use the much better platform of Culp's Hill, 
there is a god chance the Union would have to abandon its artillery 
placements on both Stevems and Cemetery Hill.

With Cemetery Hill open, a Confederate assault there would have achieved 
Lee's objective of pressuring the entire line at once, and Meade would have 
been fighting Indians in Minnesota within the month.

The great missed chance for the Confederates came in the gloom of the 
second day attack when they gained flank position on Culp's Hill, not in 
the bright sunlight of a charging Maine unit on a group of isolated 
Confederates.

Dennis

At 08:32 AM 4/8/2007, you wrote:
>Esteemed GDG Member Bob Lawrence Contributes:
>
>
>I disagree? What good was Culp's Hill? Heavily forested it was
>unsuitable for artillery and was in easy range of devastating artillery
>fire from Cemetery Hill. At the most they could have caused a small
>detour over open fields and easy terrain for troops arriving up the
>Baltimore pike.
>
>Likewise I am not so sure that taking LRT would have had the effect that
>many think. As Tom Dsjardin pointed out you could perhaps put two or
>thee cannons up there-not enough to have a significantly effect on the
>union line. And as Wayne W often pointed out there were 6,000 soldiers
>of the 6th Corp within a half mile to a mile of it in the event of a
>Confederates did overrun it.
> 
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