GDG- Buford at fairfield

[Tom Ryan]

Bill,

That is an excellent analysis, and one that I generally agree with.  It just
struck me as curious that Lee would allow Ewell to start out from
Heidlersburg on the morning of July 1 still apparently heading for Cashtown
before Lee notified him to change course for Gettysburg because Hill was
engaged there.  I am basing this on Ewell's report (OR, 27, II, p. 444).

That does not make sense.  What was Lee's motivation?  Did he forget about
Ewell, and have to make an adjustment at the last minute?  Was he hesitating
about where he wanted to fight a battle?

Perhaps he was still lulled by the belief the Union army was still far
enough away that he did not need to be particularly concerned.  Even so, you
would think that he would want to get control of Gettysburg and its road
network, rather than concentrating the army at Cashtown -- even if he did
not intend to fight a battle there.

In other words, if Heth had not gone into Gettysburg and made contact with
Buford's cavalry, Ewell would have continued on to Cashtown to join the rest
of the army.  And all this time Gettysburg would have been unoccupied.

There is a certain lack of astuteness on Lee's part regarding the run-up to
the eventual clash at Gettysburg that seems peculiar for someone with a past
record of being able to assess the situation clearly and forthrightly, and
thereby gaining the advantage.  This seems to me not so much the absence of
Stuart and the intelligence he normally provided, but more a sluggishness in
the way Lee was approaching the situation.

Regards, Tom

Tom-
I was reading Buford report and in it he says he went thru Boonsborough,
Cavetown and Monterey Springs to get to Fairfield.  I take that to read
Buford came in from the west clearing the pass as he came.

Cashtown for battle is another black hole, so here I go....  I do not think
Cashtown was ever a preferred place of battle for the Conf.  Let me go back
a bit.  Lee says in reports that he was attempting during this time to
prevent the AOP from attacking his line of communication--- coming up from
the south in the Cumberland Valley.  Other than the dated comments to
Trimble and Ewell Lee made comments to Hood and the staff officers about
finding the Federals on 30 June.
Lee had meeting with Hill about noon on 30 June and I will conjecture that
Hill told him Pettigrew was already beyond Cashtown along with Heth.  Pender
was headed there and Anderson following.  (I do not know if Hill ordered
Anderson on his way to meeting with Lee or on his way back to the front.)
It was Lee that directed Ewells' trains to precede Longstreet.  If Lee were
going to stop at Cashtown on 1 July, Longstreet would have gone first.  14
miles of trains would have clogged the roads and Longstreet would have been
stuck for a lot longer on wrong side of mountains.

Cashtown is a lousy place to voluntarily fight.  Insufficient water and
forage.
No maneuver space and no space for trains, admin and hositals etc. He would
be pinned with his back to mountains with a single road for regress.  Trains
would have had to been located toward Fayetteville etc.

Now for the headache:  lee's stated goal was to prove to the Federals that
the Conf had entered the Susquehanna Valley -- to draw them away from Lee's
line of communications. To accomplish this, Lee could not just go the
Cashtown and hunker down, hoping the Federals would figure it out.  Lee had
to make contact with a sufficiently large enough force to prove to the Feds
that he was in the Sus Valley--- and not the Cumberland.
Lee himself writes that his force was directed to Gettysburg!  Early
authors, NYE included, have embellished Cashtown--- motivation???? Perhaps
to show that Hill failed to follow orders and brought battle on there--
exonerating Lee.
 So Cashtown was a temporary focus, but once cleared by a sufficient force
(suggest 2 divisions- maybe a corps depending on enemy situation), it became
irrelevant.
There is more but this is enough to get someone's blood up...

Bill