Meade brings the war to a close

Let us suppose that General. Meade threw caution to the wind for a moment and launched a full counter attack all along the rebel line after Pickett's charge is annihilated. Could Lee with a tired, exhausted and decimated army have withstood such an assault? Is there any possibility of a Cannea, with the entire army of Northern Virginia completely encircled? If that were the case does the South still fight on or do they come to the negotiation table and try to offer the most favorable terms possible short of reinstatement into the union?
 
All along the line seems messy and undirected. Lee was hoping to be attacked. Indeed he waited to be attacked. An attack on the left with the objective of keeping Union troops between Lee and his direct line of retreat to Virginia might be desirable but who leads the attack and with what troops?

Reynolds is dead. Hancock is down. Sickles if off the field (I can see Sickles pushing for a counterattack). Howard's is the 11th Corps that no one trusts. Newton has just taken over command of the badly mauled 1st. Slocum on the right?

Really I would look to Sykes and Sedgwick on the Union left to make an attack and now we are fighting over Plum Run, Devil's Den, the Wheat Field, the Peach Orchard and pressing towards a strong position on Seminary Ridge. Its a tough call. In Meade's position I might have tried it...
 
It was really hard to destroy an army in the field during the ACW; the Battle of Franklin is the closest example we have, and Lee is a zillion times better as an army commander than Hood was.

More to the point, Meade has just been given an object lesson as to exactly what would probably happen to an army attacking across that terrain; Lee certainly had enough troops left to deal with any Union attack the same way Pickett's men had been dealt with.

A better option is probably a more vigorous pursuit that successfully outmaneuvers and traps Lee's army during the post-Gettysburg campaign. I'll leave it to others to try to figure out how to pull that one off.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
I think if Meade had attacked on July 3 or 4 on the Gettysburg battlefield itself, the Confederates probably would have held their ground and gotten some back for the beating they had just received. As already pointed out, despite having won the victory, the Union army was in a shambles, having suffered enormous casualties and lost many of its best commanders. It was probably wise of Meade to remain cautious on the battlefield.

However, Meade did not seem to think ahead towards pursuing Lee when the latter began to retreat towards Virginia. Had Meade begun preparing for such an eventuality after Pickett's Charge had been repulsed, the AoNV would have had a much more difficult time getting home. Any number of PODs could see the army trapped north of the Potomac and, quite possibly, forced to surrender.

If this happens, the war will surely end in 1864, if not late 1863. The South's best army would have been snuffed out of existence, with its best army commander and the cream of its officer corps now Union prisoners. While a scratch force (under Beauregard or Johnston) could have been put together in central Virginia to protect Richmond, it would have required stripping every other front of every soldier and even then probably couldn't have mustered more than 35,000 or 40,000 men.

There's still time for a fall campaign by the Army of the Potomac, which would be flush with victory. Richmond might well fall. With the need to reinforce Virginia, we might see Charleston and Atlanta fall before the end of 1863. I can see the war ending before Christmas.
 
The union still had reserve forces to put into the battle whereas Lee's forces had been all but exhausted. Pickett's forces were wiped out, Hood had been decimated and disabled, Hill's forces had also seen heavy fighting so it seems to me that they were at the very end of their rope and a sustained counterattack might have well won the day.
 

jahenders

Banned
Of course, the devil is in the details of how and when the counterattack is done.

Perhaps the best option:
- Meade applies pressure as Lee moved towards the fords, forcing Lee to move faster and probably leave more stuff
- Meade attacks strongly as the AONV is partially across. If successful, Meade could crush about half of the AONV against the river
- Meade moves very quickly to try to outmaneuver the remainder of Lee's army as it leaves the area. He'd be hard to pin down, but Meade could at least harry them the whole way, causing more losses
 
One thing to help with this -- if it doesn't rain on July 4, Meade (I believe) would likely follow through on his plan given to subordinates to attack Lee's forces. And if the rain is delayed a few days more, Lee's escape is going to be a lot more difficult.
 
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