GDG- LURKERS UNITE or Day 2 thread

[Alan D. Brunelle]

Jim Lamason wrote:
> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:
>
>
>  Ok Robert, 
>
> I will bite. 
>
> How about what impact did the AOP artillery have on the CSA attack on the
> Peach Orchard. Did it stop it? 
>
> Jim Lamason

Hi Jim,

There were a few Confederate attacks on the Peach Orchard area. I think 
the Union artillery had a major impact on stopping the first wave of 
assaults from Kershaw's left wing (8th South Carolina, 3rd South 
Carolina (battalion), and 2nd South Carolina - west to east). The 2nd 
New Hampshire claims to have had a negative impact on that charge - 
although I have my doubts as to the efficacy of their charge against the 
South Carolinians based upon the direction of both charges. The South 
Carolinians claim a major impact was the so-called misinterpreted "move 
by the right" order Kershaw was giving to the 7th South Carolina after 
it had passed the Rose buildings, although I also have some doubts as to 
how the order could have been transferred from the right-most unit in 
Kershaw's contiguous line to the left wing (the 15th South Carolina 
having been separated out, with Semmes brigade in between).

After the initial assault by Kershaw's left wing was repulsed (or fell 
apart due to the misinterpreted command), there /may/ have been a couple 
more attempts by what was left of the left wing to assault the Peach 
Orchard, certainly there would be some skirmishing between the remnants 
of the 8th South Carolina and 3rd South Carolina (battalion) in the 
ravine against the new line at the southern end of the orchard - 
comprised of the 2nd New Hampshire, 3rd Maine, 141st Pennsylvania, and 
3rd Michigan (west-to-east).

The next big event would be the charge of Barksdale's Mississippian's - 
and they happened to hit the weak salient at such an angle that there 
probably wasn't much Union artillery facing in that direction, such that 
they could impede it's progress. Due to the speed of the assault, and in 
part to the lack of foreknowledge due to the recent withdrawal of the 
63rd Pennsylvania from the skirmish line (after having been in that area 
for about 24 hours), the artillery line had to skedaddle rather quickly.

In general, assaults emanating from the Rose farm towards the 
Millerstown road artillery line would have been decimated by cannister 
fire - once the attacking infantry were out of the ravine, the artillery 
would have a had fine field of view. With on the order of 30 tubes 
available, they'd be firing on the order of 1,000 pieces from cannister 
two to three times a minute. A tremendous amount of fire power - I 
believe someone has compared it to WWI machine gun capabilities in terms 
of stopping infantry assaults. The significant losses incurred by the 
left wing of Kershaw's assault, coupled with the accounts describing the 
fierce nature of the artillery barrage, certainly leads one to believe 
that the artillery were very much capable of handling assaults directly 
from the south.

Of course, attacks from the direction of Barksdale's troops and southern 
marksmen firing from the flank against Bigelow's gunners were another 
matter entirely. (The latter due to Kershaw's troops initially gaining 
control of the Stony Hill.)

The skedaddling of the Union artillery, coupled with the swift advance 
of Barksdale (and Wofford) enabled the remnants of Kershaw's left wing 
to finally get out of the ravine, and the combined pressure quickly 
dismantled the Union "defenses" within the Peach Orchard.

There, that's my $0.10 (heck, w/ gas >$4.00 a gallon, even my lowly 
opinions are worth more...),

Regards,
Alan