Who were the generals for GETTYSBURG (for the union and the confederacy)?

Question

Who were the generals for GETTYSBURG (for the union and the confederacy)?

Answer 1

Robert E. Lee commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia; George Gordon Meade commanded the Union Army of the Potomac.

There were many subordinate generals. James Longstreet commanded a corps under Lee, George Pickett commanded a division of Longstreet's corps and is known for Pickett's Charge on the final day of the battle, Henry Heath's troops were the first Confederate troops to enter the town.  On the Union side: John Buford led the Union cavalry troops that delayed Heath's men until Union infantry could arrive; John Reynolds was killed by a Confederate sniper; Winfield Scott Hancock commanded the Union troops in the center position that stopped Pickett's Charge; and Governeur Warren informed General Meade that Little Round Top was undefended, which led to the 20th Maine Regiment being sent there.

>I did neglect to mention Union General Abner Doubleday, who is credited with inventing baseball.

However, neither General Hill of the Confederate Army was active at Gettysburg.  A.P. Hill was ill and D.H. Hill was commanding troops defending Richmond.

Answer 2

Overall commanders were Robert E. Lee (Army of Northern Virginia) and George Meade (army of the Potomac).  Meade had an especially challenging job--he'd just assumed command a day before the battle started, had not assembled a staff or gotten his army re-organized.  And this just after a period of intense political nonsense among the senior Union commanders (people jocking for the command, stabbing others in the back) that produced a lot of ill-will, sense of doom and feeling of defeatism.

The two senior commanders who got the battle started were Henry Heth (no "a" in his last name) commander of a Division that entered Gettysburg on recon and forage and John Buford (a southerner who fought for the north and commander of a Brigade of Union Cavalry).  Heth was under strict orders not to get into a fight--avoid engagements at all costs.  Buford saw the good ground at Gettysburg, saw the town as a crossroads.  What many people don't realize is he set up his dismounted cavalry WEST and NORTH of Gettysburg--to protect the series of ridges and thus prevent anyone from seizing the town (and its crossroads).

John Reynolds was commander of the Union First Corps.  He was widely regarded by peers who knew them both as the equal of Lee (but the North squandered his talents and he had little impact on the battlefield).  Except for this fight.  As Buford's boys desperately tried to buy time, he force-marched his troops into the fight and deployed them quickly.  Of particular note was the Iron Brigade (commanded by Rufus Dawes), probably the best Union unit of the war.  Buford's and then Reynold's men were outnumbered continuously but they used the ground well, surprised the confederates, and Heth did a terrible job (besides disobeying orders by engaging Buford).  Reynolds died early after arriving on the battlefield.  Abner Doubleday assumed command of 1st Corp and eventually conceded MacPherson's ridge (actually a series of ridges) with an organized retreat to Seminary Ridge (still West of Gettysburg).

The next group of senior officers to play major roles were d**k Ewell (attempting to replace Stonewall Jackson who had died earlier due to wounds at Chancellorsville) and Union officer Oliver Howard (commander of the Union 11th Corp--mostly German and Dutch).  11th Corp had terrible morale, they'd been crushed at Chancellorsville and the same thing happened again as Jubal Early (under command of Ewell) swept in from the North, smashed the Union lines.  The orderly retreat turned into a rout and the Iron Brigade was practically destroyed in a desperate last stand to buy time for other Union troops to escape.

Union General Winfield Hancock than arrived with his troops and assumed command of all Union forces (Meade was still not on scene yet) and decided that the army would make its headquarters on Cemetery Ridge.  Meade arrived later that night and concurred.

Day 2, Ewell launched attacks on the left (Culps Hill--Union right flank).  But Gen. George Greene (who's family's history of military service goes all the way back to the Revolution with hero Nathaniel Greene who George Washington always felt was one of his 2-3 best generals) and one of the oldest officers in either service had ordered massive digging and fortifications--very atypical for this stage of the war.  Ewell's boys basically got no-where.

On the right flank, Lee ordered James "Pete" Longstreet to send his Corps against the Union left flank (Confederate right side of the line) in an attack "in echelon" (one force commits then the second next to it and then the third--it is an effort to disguise the real target and encourage the enemy to take troops from the sectors you attack later).

John Bell Hood and Williams Barksdale led a series of assaults against the Union left flank.  Daniel Sickles imperiled the entire Union line by pulling his troops off of Cemetery Ridge and into the Peach Orchard (which stretched his troops too thin, allowed them to be attacked from 3 sides, reduced the support available from other Union troops, and created a gaping hole in the Union line).  It also left Little Round Top unoccupied.  Gouveneur Warren (Chief of Engineers) saw this and desperately called for troops.  Union Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain fought a desperate battle on the far left of the Union flank but the real hero of Little Round Top was Union Col. Strong Vincent.  He would die that day at 26.  But he was Chamberlain's commander.  Besides putting the 20th Maine in it's correct position, he managed to handle 4 other regiments on the fly as they arrived, throwing them into combat and leading from the front to stop the attacks that would have led to Chamberlain's men being cut off and anhiliated.

Day 3, Lee resolved to attack the center of the Union line.  The Union commander in the center was Winfield Hancock (nickname was Hancock the Superb--possibly the best Union Corps commander in the war).  He had the Confederate artillery outgunned, troops outnumbered, he had 2 lines of forces plus a line of dismounted cavalry behind those 2 lines.

Lee had 3 divisions to send to the center.  George Pickett's boys were last in line arriving at Gettysburg so were fresh and the most numerous.  Heth's former Division (he was wounded Day 1) is now commanded by Johnston Pettigrew, a former academic from North Carolina and was mauled Day 1 (for instance, the 26th North Carolina had 60% losses the first day) and then Ike Trimble had two Brigades that had seen action earlier.  The charge is referred to as Pickett's charge b/c Pickett's force was the largest and he was nominally the field commander.  Then there are support brigades (supposed to provide a diversion) under George T. Anderson.

The Confederates had to cross over a mile of mostly open ground and then ran into a fence.  Pettigrew's boys were anhiliated.  Pickett's benefited from a swale in the ground and then a left oblique manuever (which is difficult to execute under fire but allowed them to minimize some of their fire).  Trimble's brigade fell apart under the fire.  A regiment from Mississippi actually went the greatest distance and got to within 20 feet of the stone wall on cemetery ridge.  A couple of Pickett's regiments (NC and Va. boys) got across the stone wall at Cushing's battery (where it was closer to Seminary ridge--their jumping off point) but were quickly captured or beaten back by the 2nd Union line.  The troops of G.T. Anderson never contributed to the attack--they jumped off late, saw the carnage and didn't go further.  It was a wasted effort anyway---there were no reserves Lee had to push into the line should the confederates have pushed a hole in the Union line.

Pickett's casualties for his Division exceeded 70%.  Pettigrew's weren't quite as bad but taken for the 3 days, most of the regiments in his division had suffered worse numbers.  The performance of senior Confederate officers in this battle was overall, very bad--lots of wasted opportunities, poor tactical decisions and overconfidence.

Answer 3

Confederacy

Lee; Ewell; Longstreet Hill and others

Union  Meade Butterfield Rey nolds ; Doubleday and others