AH Challenge: Lee surrenders at Gettysburg

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With a POD not before July 1st 1863, how could we have a total union victory at Gettysburg resulting in Lee surrendering his army in the field?
 
I guess have Lee be captured near the end, or he takes much more casualties overall, especially on Day 3.
 
In the movie "Gettysburg" (don't know if this happened IRL though), after Lee said "It's all my fault" his soldiers tried to convince him to allow another charge. Maybe that happenes ITTL?
 
With a POD not before July 1st 1863, how could we have a total union victory at Gettysburg resulting in Lee surrendering his army in the field?
I'm probably cutting myself off at the knees here, considering my own Gettysburg TL, but barring ever greater recklessness on the part of Lee, it's not really possible. The numbers there are just too close. Not even, but a 1.3 to 1 ratio is hardly a killing advantage.
 
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In the movie "Gettysburg" (don't know if this happened IRL though), after Lee said "It's all my fault" his soldiers tried to convince him to allow another charge. Maybe that happenes ITTL?
Lee took responsibility, not blame. He never understood that he made a mistake. He spent the rest of his life wondering what went wrong (hint-hint: the Yankees didn't run away like the plan called for:D). Lee had nothing but remnants in the center after the charge. Only the guns and a plentiful supply of canister rounds kept Meade from launching a counter-assault.

EDIT-Lee also had what was left of Anderson's Division strung out like a string of beads to defend the guns. Anderson had been bled badly during the Second Day.
 
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With a POD not before July 1st 1863, how could we have a total union victory at Gettysburg resulting in Lee surrendering his army in the field?

You'd also need Slocum to be faster with XII Corps. And have Meade forget about the Pipe Creek Line before he even thinks of it. Just keep everybody heading north. Slocum's action saves much of I and XI Corps, and all but VI Corps are up and in position by dawn on the Second Day. VI Corps arrives in the late morning. Then have Lee launch his attacks as IOTL.

But to destroy Lee? That would require a Fourth Day. Impossible. God intervened (weather). And after Pickett's Charge, Lee had already decisively chosen to get the Hell out of Dodge! Lee could be rash, but never stupid.

Had Lee died of a heart attack (Not ASB!), well, Longstreet was much more defensively minded than Lee, but his operational ideas for the army were even more reckless. Longstreet wanted to march AROUND the AotP and get the AoNV between Meade and Washington. He would find good ground, dig in, and wait for Meade to destroy himself on Longstreet's defensive works. Only problem was, that cut the AoNV off from home. No more supplies, especially ammunition. With the fortifications of Washington, their Heavy Artillery troops, and XXII Corps at Longstreet's back, and the AotP in his front, Longstreet's not getting back to Virginia.
 
Was major combat not possible in the wet?

Not just wet. It was "Somebody find Noah!" wet. An absolutely torrential downpour, soddening powder and percussion caps. And while you can (with difficulty) march in mud, you can't FORCE-MARCH in it.

But as far as fighting goes? In the Second Battle of the Mule Shoe at Spotsylvannia Courthouse, the US II Corps launched an all out bayonet (They'd been forbidden to fire) charge on the Mule Shoe. This took place while shrouded in fog. There had been heavy rains all night long until just before the troops went in. Facing them was the famous Stonewall Brigade behind very heavy fortifications. The Stonewall had good artillery support as well, making for an impenetrable position.

Just as the Yankee troops came out of the fog, the Confederates opened fire. POP! Fizzle...:eek:! Virtually every rifle, and most of the artillery, misfired.:eek::eek: The 20,000 men of II Corps simply swarmed and overran the Stonewall, capturing the entire force. The Stonewall Brigade had ceased to exist. And the Mule Shoe salient into Union lines had been erased. The rest of the battle that day would be decided by the bayonet, and hand-to-hand.:mad:
 

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Not just wet. It was "Somebody find Noah!" wet. An absolutely torrential downpour, soddening powder and percussion caps. And while you can (with difficulty) march in mud, you can't FORCE-MARCH in it.

But as far as fighting goes? In the Second Battle of the Mule Shoe at Spotsylvannia Courthouse, the US II Corps launched an all out bayonet (They'd been forbidden to fire) charge on the Mule Shoe. This took place while shrouded in fog. There had been heavy rains all night long until just before the troops went in. Facing them was the famous Stonewall Brigade behind very heavy fortifications. The Stonewall had good artillery support as well, making for an impenetrable position.

Just as the Yankee troops came out of the fog, the Confederates opened fire. POP! Fizzle...:eek:! Virtually every rifle, and most of the artillery, misfired.:eek::eek: The 20,000 men of II Corps simply swarmed and overran the Stonewall, capturing the entire force. The Stonewall Brigade had ceased to exist. And the Mule Shoe salient into Union lines had been erased. The rest of the battle that day would be decided by the bayonet, and hand-to-hand.:mad:
If what you are saying is true, then I'd not call it an 'impenetrable' position, but rather a very vulnerable position that require good weather to be able to defend it
 
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