Susquehanna, Units 1 & 2: Fill & Download for Free

The Statue of Liberty speaks FrenchThe first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter, in South CarolinaThe first frozen margarita machine was invented in DallasTexas uses its own power grid, separate from the rest of the United States.The opening shots of the American Revolution were fired at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts in April 1775.The Magna Carta, signed in 1215 by King John of England, was the first document that limited power of the ruler.The deadliest natural disaster in United States history occurred in Texas.The St. Regis Canoe Area is the largest wilderness canoe area in the northeastern United States.The fastest road in the United States is located in Austin.Texas is larger than any country in Europe.The American Flag Has Had 27 VersionsThere’s a palace made totally out of cornAlaska was once Russian14. The Liberty Bell is from London15, London Bridge is in Arizona16. New York was once New Amsterdam17. The current 50-star American flag was designed by a 17-year-old as a school project in 1958. He got a B18. Three of the world’s five oldest rivers flow in the United States: The New, the Susquehanna, and the French Broad Rivers are each hundreds of millions of years old.19. But the nation is young: The government is still paying one pension on behalf of a Civil War veteran (to his 85-year-old daughter).20. There is enough water in Lake Superior to cover the entire landmass of North and South America in one foot of liquid.

Short answer is no.The 1863 Invasion of Pennsylvania (the “Gettysburg Campaign” as it became known) had several strategic goals:1. To relieve pressure on the western parts of the Confederacy, i.e. Vicksburg.2. To capture a northern state capital, Harrisburg, in order create political pressure on the North to end the war.3. To disrupt and destroy the major east-west rail link, the Pennsylvania Railroad. To that end, one goal, after taking Harrisburg, was to destroy the train shops at Altoona and destroy the famous Horseshoe Curve, west of Altoona.4. To capture or destroy Union supplies, including food.How did these work?1. Even though there was a large raid in southern Indiana and Ohio contemporaneous (Morgan’s Raid, 6/11–7/26) with the invasion, few, if any, troops were pulled out of the west.2. On 6/29, the lead units of Ewell’s army were literally across the river from Harrisburg and could see the old Red Brick Capitol (that burnt in the 1890’s), on the other side of the Susquehanna. Ewell, and staff officers actually got to Wormleysburg, about 1.5 miles from the the Capitol. Most of the Union troops were on the west of the Susquehanna, at what is now Camp Hill. In an attack, the could have been cut off on the “wrong” side of the river.Ewell’s lead brigade, under Jenkins, were preparing to attack Harrisburg on 6/30; the orders had actually been issued. Lee, however, got a report a spy named Harrison that the Union Army of the Potomac was moving north, but he did not have their location.Lee, not knowing where the Army of Potomac was, issued his famous order to Ewell, “I desire you to move in the direction of Gettysburg…” late on 6/29. The goal was not to fight at Gettysburg, but to concentrate his troops in the area, and keep the Army of the Potomac from moving between South Mountain and the Susquehanna and cutting off the Army of Northern Virginia from Virginia. It was not to fight a battle at Gettysburg.3. Late on the night of 6/28, Early, having gotten the City of York’ surrender (it paid a ransom), attempted to capture the Wrightstown-Columbia Bridge across the Susquehanna well south of Harrisburg. Had they been able to do that, they could have cut the Pennsylvania Railroad between Harrisburg and Lancaster. They also may have been able to attack Harrisburg from both the east and the west.The Pennsylvania militia burnt the bridge after trying to blow it. The Confederates were at the west end of the bridge, so it was very close. Being close, however, was not enough. The Army of Northern Virginia was on the west, or Gettysburg, side of the Susquehanna. Harrisburg, and Pennsylvania Railroad between Harrisburg and Philadelphia, were on the east side of the Susquehanna.So, by the morning of 6/30/1863, three of the four strategic goals of the Invasion of Pennsylvania had failed. The Battle of Gettysburg started on the morning of 7/1/1863.Could the Confederacy have won the Battle of Gettysburg? Possibly. Where they any closer to overall victory. Absolutely not.

This is a complicated question. I will outline what I believe were Lee’s three opportunities to win at Gettysburg and the likely consequences of each. However, I think it is important to understand Lee’s strategic objectives at the beginning of the Pennsylvania campaign.First, Lee launched the campaign to relieve pressure on the besieged Confederate Army at Vicksburg and the farmers of northern Virginia who had borne the bulk of War’s economic damage. Second, Lee was also looking for a Napoleonic victory, which was the destruction of the enemy’s principal army to quickly force a political resolution favoring the Confederacy. Whether that was even possible during the Civil War is beyond the scope of this discussion and should be addressed in another Quora.Lee had three opportunities to win at Gettysburg. The first opportunity was on Day 1 at Cemetery Hill and Culp’s Hill. If Lee had taken and held either of these Hills, then the Union units around Gettysburg would have retreated southeast to link up with the bulk of the Army of the Potomac moving up from Washington. Lee would have had three choices - stay at Gettysburg, move north to burn Harrisburg and the Susquehanna River railroad bridge or pursue the retreating Union army units and force a confrontation on ground of Meade’s choosing. All were bad choices. If Lee stayed at Gettysburg or moved on to Harrisburg, then Meade would move to cut of Lee’s line of communication (and retreat) to Virginia. If he choose to confront Meade closer to Washington, then Meade would have had the opportunity to select and prepare his army for a defensive battle. In any of these cases, there would have been no opportunity for an Napoleonic-style victory.The other two opportunities were on the second day. Lee split his forces and attacked both flanks. A breakthrough on either flank could have forced a chaotic retreat, which would have been an opportunity to capture a large portion of the Army of the Potomac. However, surviving elements would have retreated to the fortresses surrounding Washington and would have been reorganized into those defenses, thus denying Lee his chance to be the American Napoleon.My conclusion is that even if Lee won on either Day 1 or Day 2 (it was not possible on Day 3), it would not have been a war winning event. It might have prolonged the war, although that is doubtful given events in the West. It could have surpassed Chancellorsville as Lee’s greatest victory, but if he turned north to exploit it or pursued southeast to force a confrontation, it could have been a disaster that destroyed his army and, in conjunction with Vicksburg, ended the war almost two years early. Lee’s best alternative, whether he won or lost, was to retreat south after Gettysburg and preserve his army to fight another day. History would have not changed.