"A Gettysburg hypothetical poll" Topic

Day one July 1st

Johnson's 2nd Corp Division is available to Ewell at 2pm. 6,500 Veteran Troops.

Is the 11th Corp crushed and the Confederates take both Culp's Hill and cemetery Hill virtually unopposed.

I always thought this was a better hypothetical than Ewell continuing after dark.

Good question

Given Ewell's pugnacious nature I suspect he would have mopped the floor with 11 Corps and taken Cemetery and Culp's Hill

I have played Gettysburg many times both as board games and as computer sims. Yes, more often than not XI Corps collapses and the Rebs take the high ground.

If this would happen, then this would probably have ended the "encounter/battle at Gettysburg" as Meade would have definitely set up along the Pipe Creek line where he wanted to fight.

What Murphy says. Lee had to get around Meade or, in the worst case, break the AotP for Lee's plan to work. With Meade's bigger army, and on ground of Meade's choosing, breaking Meade's army wasn't going to be easy at all. Meade (whom I think is under-rated) was a better general then the other generals Lee had faced, and the AotP a more experienced army.

Yep, I agree with Murphy also. The result would probably have been the same.

Agreed. Anything making the First Day worse for the Union than it actually was just makes Gettysburg a one-day battle.

Analogous situation with Ligny/Quatre Bras. A better day for the French doesn't mean they win Waterloo, (though it might mean the Imperial Guard marches through Brussels.) It means the climactic battle of the 1815 Canpaign is fought later, and probably somewhere else.

Could Johnson have been there sooner, by the way? Was there room on the road? Marching divisions take up a lot of space.