"Barlow's Knoll Revisited" Topic

"It was "idiotic." It was "a terrible blunder." It was "strange" and "disastrous." It was "unspeakable folly." Such has been the popular appraisal of Barlow's decision to move forward with his division and take the little knoll north north-east of Gettysburg that would forever after bear his name.

The conventional wisdom remains that the move was foolhardy, but I would like to offer a contrarian perspective. What do we make of Barlow in his controversial advance at Gettysburg?

Francis Channing Barlow looked less like a general than anyone in the American Civil War who wore the stars. At first glance he appeared to be a mere teenager, and a slender and delicate one at that. His entry into the war had been as a private in the New York State Militia…"

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Amicalement
Armand

Interesting article.

Some of that article is not in agreement with what has come out in other articles in Gettysburg Mag.

Don

Glad you enjoyed it my friend!.

Amicalement
Armand

This was definitely a very interesting article. One thing that you have to keep in mind for Gettysburg is the mental condition of the 3rd and 11th Corps. Both these Corps had suffered an old fashioned butt whooping at Chancellorsville and this was still fresh in their mind. As a matter of fact this is one of the reasons that Sickles decided to make his brilliant parade ground advance to the front on the second day. He was not going to be caught off guard again. Howard was concerned about his flank being turned, another left over concern from Chancellorsville. There is no doubt that both these Corps were snake bitten from the previous battle. Barlow was instructed to defend the right flank from being turned and chose the best possible ground for defense. If you have ever seen the terrain at the knoll, it does command the high ground and he only had so many troops to cover it.