<font color="orange">My responses</font id="orange">
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">(1) I was discussing Lee's recorded statements about Meade, not Meade's actual performance.
<font color="orange">Lee also said after the war that McClellan was the best Union general that he ever fought, not Meade nor Grant. Go figure!?</font id="orange">
(2)I think you are more concerned with the game providing your ideas of proper supply level and the ability to try and break from history.
<font color="orange">Break from history?!!!
Historically. the ANV did not run out of artillery or small arms ammo after lots of intense combat and artillery bombardment. I suggest that I am striving for historical accuracy!
And we play these games to try and change history, so I am unabashedly trying to get closer to historical limitations rather than game designer created limitations. No insult intended to game designers because just look at all they have created which we play and enjoy! And they even provided a "game editor function" where we might tweak critical factors to affect play.
As designed, you might think that Lee wanted to capture Gettysburg and surrounding high points, (Culp's Hill, LRT, etc,) and hold on to them to the death, knowing that Meade must come and recapture them. Lee would have moved on,... unless he decided that Meade would attack him on the heights to Lee's advantage. Or Lee might have continued his attack on the AoP if he saw opportunity to damage it more and badly at small expense to the ANV.
Meade could have let Lee sit there on Cemetery Ridge while he deployed to cut off Lee's retreat routes and brought in reinforcements from outside the AoP.
But Lee could not just sit there. He needed to keep moving or as he unfortunately decided at Gettysburg, damage and/or destroy the AoP. Everyone in this club probably understands that it makes no sense to attack a defensive, well prepared, superior force holding the high ground which has no military/political value beyond combat in the immediate locale. [8][xx(]
This obscure country town had no special political or military value once Heth captured the Gettysburg shoe factory. (I have never found any indication that there was a distribution of shoes to his troops.)
I propose that had Lee not decided to disregard Longstreet's counsel and the ANV had captured Culp's Hill and Cemetery Ridge on the first day, that he would have marched on to menace major population centers and spread fear which would force the AoP to come after him and attack. Harrisburg, Baltimore, and Washington DC were particularly good targets to get a scare going and a political demand that the AoP aggressively expell the ANV invader. </font id="orange">
I have not looked at the large maps enough but it is difficult to judge lee's strategic decisions without a good topo map and contemporary road map. I am not too familiar with the area. The only time I drove to Gettysburg was on the back roads from Philly.- Jim Pfleck
<font color="orange">Go to
www.mapquest.com and plug in "Gettysburg PA," then click a time or two on the map expander. (-) With a bit of scrolling, you can get a look at the relative locations of major cities at risk.
I consider Newark far too dangerous for the ANV to make a serious move against as it would place the ANV deep in enemy territory with great opportunities to cut it off and destroy it.</font id="orange">
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">Lee screwed up badly at Gettysburg on the second and third days. It was not just Longstreet that recognized that the attacks did not make sense, but division and brigade commanders also are recorded as protesting their deployments.
BG Ross McDaniel
2nd Bde, 3rd Div, III Corps, AoG, CSA
Dialogue according to Shelby Foote between Longstreet and Lee late (after 1630) on the first day of Gettysburg:
Longstreet: If we could have chosen a point to meet our plans of operation, I do not think we could have found a better one than that upon which they are now concentrating.
All we have to do is throw our army around by their left, and we shall interpose between the Federal army and Washington. We can get a strong position and wait, and if they fail to attack us, we shall have everything in condition to move back tomorrow night in the direction of Washington, selecting a good position into which we can place our troops to receive battle next day.
Finding our object is Washington and that army, the Federals will be sure to attack us. When they attack, we shall beat them,as we proposed to do before we left Fredericksburg, and the probabilities are that the fruits of our success will be great.
Lee: No, the enemy is there (gesturing with his fist toward Cemetery Ridge) and I am going to attack him there.
Longstreet: If he is there, it is because he is anxious that we should attack him: a good reason in my judgment for not doing so.
Lee: No, they are there in position, and I am going to whip them or they are going to whip me.