Lee at Gettysburg

After the Battle of Chancellorsville, Robert E. Lee and his army seemed unbeatable. Lee certainly believed so and he convinced the Confederate President to authorize another invasion of Union soil in an attempt to force Abraham Lincoln to the negotiating table.
While many of the issues Lee faced during the Gettysburg campaign were a result of his great victory at Chancellorsville, this short video looks at why Lee would not hand the North another defeat at Gettysburg.
This is a first long-form vid for the channel and I've been trying various tools to assist in content creation. I hope to dig deeper into the Civil War as I learn this new craft.
Note: While the video was created in Pictory AI, each scene was vetted by myself. All stock photos/videos were chosen by me and the script reviewed for accuracy. I'd welcome any comments!
Please enjoy and subscribe.

[@salguodrolyat2594]

A good synopsis. Thank you. 👍

[@AmericanCivilWarFacts]

Glad you liked it!

[@stevenhaynes7966]

#1 Reason! Jen Stewart’s Cavalry was not with the Army, robbing it of all knowledge of where the Union Army was. They assumed that since Jen Stewart had not reported any news that the Union Army was still in Virginia. Then once the Union surprised them by being at Gettysburg, they jumped at any rumored movement. The reason that General Ewell did not take that hill was they had received reports that there were Union soldiers approaching on the Hanover Road ready to attack the flank of any attack on that hill. By the time they realized that the 5th Corps was actually hours away, it was too late to take that hill.
**If Jeb Stewart was where he was supposed to be reporting on the movement of the Union Army and the positions of its various Corps, the Army of Northern Virginia could have pounced on them and destroyed each separately.
The 1st and 11th were operating as a wing.
The 2nd and 12th were operating as a separate wing.
The 3rd was several miles away from the 1st and 11th but not within easy supporting distance.
The 5th was also several miles behind the 2nd and 12th but not within supporting distance.
And the 7th Corps (the largest by the way), never actually fought at Gettysburg, because they were too far away from the rest of the Army.
They were very much in detail of being beaten in detail.
But, the Confederates did not know where they were!

[@stevenhaynes7966]

Sorry, it’s Jeb Stewart not Jen Stewart, damn auto correct!

[@AmericanCivilWarFacts]

Valid points! Lee gave Stuart the option to cross the Potomac River either east or west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, depending on the movements of the Union forces. Stuart chose to ride around the Union army, which resulted in him losing contact with Lee.
Stuart's decision is debatable, some arguing that Stuart exceeded his orders and some contending that he was operating within the discretion Lee had granted him.

[@stevenhaynes7966]

@@AmericanCivilWarFacts Of course, that was a major problem with General Lee, his orders were generally so vague that one could never be quite sure where the limits of discretion were. Not to mention that Lee would toss out an idea and then expect his subordinates to fill out the details as well as coordinate their actions. But, Stuart did have sufficient Calvary to do both. All he had to do was to assign the Brigades which were formerly assigned to the Shenandoah to accompany the Army. But, he did not, they remained in the Shenandoah.