The United States Civil War was fought between the states remaining loyal to the Union (predominately states from the North) and those wishing to secede, forming a separate nation, the Confederate States of America (made up of the southern states). One of the deadliest battles of the war was the Battle of Gettysburg. The battle lasted from July 1, 1863 until July 3,1863. This battle is recognized as the deadliest battle to take place on U. S. soil. In 2011, the History Channel made a documentary about the Battle of Gettysburg entitled, Gettysburg.
This documentary was produced by Mary Lisio, Ben Fox, Christopher Cowden, Vlokkie Gordon, and David Wicht. It was written by Richard Bedser and Ed Fields; directed by Adrian Moat; narrated by Sam Rockwell, who also starred. Other stars were Ant Blake, Josh Artis, Greg Berg, and Stephen Jennings. The film discussed each day of the Battle of Gettysburg, as well as events happening throughout the duration of the war. Day one of the Battle of Gettysburg:
Gettysburg skips the normal movie set up and goes right to the beginning of the battle, one mile west of Gettysburg, where Union soldiers lead by Lieutenant Colonel Rufus Dawes encounter rebel reconnaissance. The fight escalates quickly, as the Confederates are outnumbered by the northern forces by a two to one ratio. The rebels however have an advantage, a six hundred foot railroad cut they take cover in. Due to this advantage, every yard gained by Union soldiers will cost them one life. This fight is over in less than twenty minutes with the Union gaining the victory. Six hundred Confederates are killed, mising, or wounded.
On the Union side of this, Dawes loses half of his men. Gettysburg then talks about how the 28,000 Confederate troops surrounding Gettysburg are overwhelming the 20,000 Union soldiers. It also talks about how Robert E. Lee was confident that the Confederacy could win both Gettysburg and the war. The film then takes the viewer to the northern edge of the town of Gettysburg where all that stands between the town and rebels is the Union’s Eleventh Corps. The rebels facing the Eleventh Corps are lead by Lieutenant General Dick Ewell who was appointed by General Robert E. Lee after General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s death.
Ewell, who had lost his leg at the Second Battle of Bull Run, had a lot to live up to. After ten hours of fighting and 9,000 casualties, the Union retreats from Gettysburg into the surrounding hills. Once in these hills Lieutenant Colonel Dawes has his men start building breastworks, temporary fortifications, to have some shelter from Confederate forces in the morning. By nightfall the Confederate flag is flying over Gettysburg. Ewell gets orders from Lee to take two of the hills that the Union are staked out in. However, Ewell decides to wait until he can get reinforcements.
Day two of the Battle of Gettysburg: Major General George Meade of the Union arrives to Gettysburg with a tactic to take advantage of the area’s terrain. He arranges the Union forces to make a defensive line in the surrounding hills of Gettysburg. He has this line set in the shape of a fish hook. The idea of this tactic is that it covers all of the Union’s flanks and if needed, troops can be moved to cover any attack without compromising the Union’s position. The Confederacy plans a surprise attack under Brigadier General William Barksdale to weaken the Union’s position.
There is a major flaw in the General’s plan. The Confederacy’s cavalry is raiding supplies sixty miles from Gettysburg. Because of this, the area they are marching to has not been scouted. As a result, they almost march right into Union forces. This adds two hours to the Confederacy march, giving the Union’s General Meade time to reinforce his position. Of course, to accomplish this Meade needed to be able to track the rebel troop movements. However, Confederate forces had cut the Union’s telegraph lines. This forces Meade to rely on Wig-Wag signaling.
Wig-Wag signaling is based off of morse code and is done by waving flags to form letters. As the narrator of this film, Sam Rockwell said, “one set of walkie talkies could have changed the outcome of the Civil War. ” Gettysburg then introduces Union commander, Major General Daniel Sickles. Against orders he moved his men too far forward, taking them out of their position. This fractures the fishhook form the Union is forming, and exposed their flanks. The Confederates can see this and reposition themselves to take advantage of this opportunity. Thus, the fighting renews.
The Confederate plan is to take ten brigades and have them fight two at a time in waves against the Union. An hour passes with this tactic but, Barksdale is ordered to hold his position. After another thirty minutes of holding their position Barksdale and his men have permission to push ahead. Sickles’ line starts to collapse, forcing Meade to pull 8,000 forces from Culp’s Hill to prop up that section of the fish hook. Sickles’ leg gets shot by a canon during battle, a wound which would prove terminal.
As narrator Sam Rockwell said, “this was bad news for Sickles but, good news for the Union. At this point in Gettysburg, Union forces are on the retreat. The Confederate forces are approaching Cemetery Ridge, feeling confident, unaware they are charging into over twenty canons. Barksdale is hit by a cannonball in the thigh, but continues to fight along with his men until he bleeds out. However, Barksdale and his men were just a small part of the Confederate attack. Confederate forces numbering 21,000 are attacking Meade’s line from Little Round Top to Cemetery Ridge. Since so many Union Troops had to be moved from Culp’s Hill to cover Sickles’ men, only 1,400 yankee soldiers were left at Culp’s Hill.
For the Confederates, this as an opportunity to strike and move 4,500 troops to take Culp’s Hill. The fighting on this front intensifies quickly. It quickly grows dark outside making it hard to tell friend from foe, the fighting ends for the night. Meanwhile, the Union’s intelligence agency is interrogating captured Confederate soldiers in an attempt to learn Lee’s battle plans. They soon learn they have soldiers from each infantry division except that of Major General George Pickett. Pickett has all of the Confederacy’s fresh troops.
Meade believes that Pickett will then lead the Confederate’s attack on day three of the Battle of Gettysburg. Day three of the Battle of Gettysburg: Gettysburg begins day three with showing how Lee has readied one last attack. On the Confederate side this attack consists of 12,000 troops and 160 canons making for a two mile line of artillery. On the Union side their artillery force is made up of only 100 canons. After a few hours of cannon fire from both sides the Union stops firing their cannons to convince Lee that he has crippled their forces. By 3pm the Confederacy also stops firing artillery.
Confederate command sends in their troops believing that it is now safe. All that has to be done to reach the Union is cross 1,700 yards of open meadow then go up a hill. The Confederacy is unaware that the Union still has its fire power. A fact they quickly learn but, there is no point in returning fire because their rifles don’t have the range to reach Union forces. Once Confederates come into Union range they find a break in the Union line and utilize it to push their way through. The two sides then are forced to engage in hand to hand combat. Soon the entire Confederate line retreats.
General Lee has lost one third of his men and the Battle of Gettysburg is concluded with a Union victory. This three day battle is considered one of the bloodiest battles fought on American soil. In the end, the result is 50,000 casualties. Although this battle was not the final battle of the Civil War, it was one of the major battles of the war. The Civil War will continue for two more bloody years. Along with greatly discussing the battle aspect of the Battle of Gettysburg, Gettysburg also discussed many different methods of warfare used in the battle. The film discussed multiple ifferent weapons used.
One such weapon was the canon. The film discussed the rifled cannon which consisted of four and a half inch strips of rod iron that had a three inch groove boar. This made these canons tough, reliable, accurate, and have good range. The rifled cannon would deliver shells that explode on impact, thereby creating lots of shrapnel. These canons were capable of taking out ten men with one shot. Gettysburg also discussed the smoothbore cannon which was the most popular artillery in the Civil War and could fire four kinds of ammunition.
Lastly, Gettysburg talked about a new type of bullet, the miniball. The miniball had a hollowed base and was grooved on the sides, both of which would lead to more stability. The miniball would flatten out on impact making for larger wounds and shattered bones. The grooves on the sides would hold bacteria which would lead to wounds getting infected with gangrene. Soldiers of this battle as well as war were all Americans. There was the Union, or the North which consisted of the U. S. army, volunteers, and slaves. While the Confederacy, the South consisted of mainly volunteers.
The soldiers of this war often were family, friends, or neighbors. This worked both in favor and against soldiers. Of course in favor because if they were fighting with those they know they would fight harder. Whereas they also could be fighting against those they know as president Abraham Lincoln said, “A house divided cannot stand. ” Gettysburg did a phenomenal job of showing tactics used in the Battle of Gettysburg, not so much on strategies. The strategies shown in Gettysburg consisted mainly of showing the Union as hoping to suffocating the South.
While showing the South as mainly just having a defensive strategy. Tactics, however were shown more extensively. The Confederate tactics shown in Gettysburg include multiple things. These would include things such as forces hiding in a railroad cut. planning surprise attacks, cutting telegraph communications, and taking advantage of Union forces being displaced. Union tactics shown would include such things as building breastworks, taking advantage of terrain, positioning troops to cover flanks, and stopping canon fire in order to lead Confederate forces to believe that their forces were crippled.