GDG- 20th Maine vs 137th NY

[Jack Kelly]

<<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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Bob,

The critical feature of Culp's Hill was the fact that the Baltimore Pike was 
only 400-500 yards from the summits of  Culp's Hill.  If the Confederates 
had managed to reach and cut the Pike, the main Union supply route to 
Cemetery Hill and the northern Cemetery Ridge positions, the Union positions 
could not be held.  On the late evening of 2 July, there were actually no 
Federal units between the Confederates on the lower hill and the Baltimore 
Pike, but darkness and Confederate indecision prevented Steuart's brigade 
from exploiting the situation.
To answer another question, there were two (IIRC) artillery pieces in place 
on the upper summit during July 2nd's artillery duel between Federals and 
the Confederates on Benner's Hill.  The artillery would have been useless in 
repelling the Confederate infantry later in the day, however, because of the 
terrain and elevation.

Regards,

Jack Kelly