WI No Rain after Gettysburg

How long would they likely be able to go on, then?

If, after the capital falls in, say, August, northern newspapers made predictions of "rebel collapse by Christmas", is it within serious possibility that the CSA would frustrate them?
 

The Sandman

Banned
If there's no rain on the 4th, does Meade attack Lee at Gettysburg, or does he head for the southern passes across South Mountain in the hopes of blocking Lee's line of retreat? The latter would seem to be more in keeping with Meade's preferred style of warfare.
 
Meade told his officers he would attack the next day, OTL; without rain, he will launch one, though it needn't be an all out assault -- it may well suit Meade better to make more of an incursion.

That said, even if Meade mainly seeks more to hamper Lee's retreat, the ANV could still see the casualties we've been talking about.
 
If Longstreet can't go to Chatanooga than Rosecrans is likely sucessfull in his Tulahooma Campaign in full, possibly pushing the Rebels into a situation where they fight on his turns. If the AT is defeated by the AOC, then it's also likely that Atlanta falls earlier, and that Grant never becomes head of the Union Army.

Therefore, if Meade is not as aggressive, than maybe Hancock becomes commander of the AOP. As far as a Northern Virginia campaign is concerned, it's probably going to be a disaster for the South if they only have 1/3 strength.

Hancock is still shot and injured.
 
Meade told his officers he would attack the next day, OTL; without rain, he will launch one, though it needn't be an all out assault -- it may well suit Meade better to make more of an incursion.

That said, even if Meade mainly seeks more to hamper Lee's retreat, the ANV could still see the casualties we've been talking about.


Sorry for jumping in here late in the game, but wasn't Longstreet preparing for a counterattack by the Union after Pickett's Charge?
 
Sorry for jumping in here late in the game, but wasn't Longstreet preparing for a counterattack by the Union after Pickett's Charge?

That's actually a good question -- IDROTTOMH*, but you may be right. Even so, how successful he is depends on how well he predicts Meade's point of attack -- but again, IDROTTOMH where that was to be.

*I Don't Remember Off the Top of My Head

EDIT ADD: Oh, and here's another thought -- how is the post-war different with Meade as the hero of the Union?
 
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Was Meade interested in politics?

If McClellan and Hancock ran for office, Meade might too. Is it ASB that we might see President Meade instead of President Grant?
 
Sorry to jump in late. My take is that the lack of rain in the week following the battle simply allows Lee and the ANV to beat feet back to Virginia in record time.

From Lee's viewpoint, his army is still very short on munitions, and the PoD is not going to prevent the disruption of his main supply line at Falling Waters on the 4th. From Meade's viewpoint, he won the battle but is badly disorganized, and cannot make a decisive attack on the 4th. Given the roads available, the AoP is still going to lose the footrace to the ANV in making the crossing points at Williamsport and Falling Waters.

I don't recall Meade having any particluar political ambitions - and I think he was older than some of the others.
 
Sorry it took me so long to get back to this, but --

Remember, the rain didn't only affect Meade's plan for a new attack; the muddy ground at Boonsboro and Funkstown made it more difficult for the AoP to outmanuveur Lee's retreating army.

There's also the fact that Meade was planning to attack Lee the day he found Lee had escaped accross the river; put Lee in a weaker situation numerically and strategically, and Lee could face yet another attack, or might get desperate and try a counterattack.
 
Just to make this extremely clear, this forum is not for children and there is no rule against swearing, only anything actually insulting.

Just to be extremely clear, I was making a request, not claiming that there was a rule about it.

I take it that you don't think its insulting to imply that my not liking swearing is childish.
 

67th Tigers

Banned
In fact, now that I think on it, this thread may represent Lt. General (Bvt.) Winfield Scott's original concept of the Anaconda Plan. When we think "Anaconda" today, we think of the naval blockade and port seizures, but it really was far more than that. It involved advances down the western and eastern sides of the Allegheny Mountains. Taking Confederate states east and west in a measured manner and linking up in or around Atlanta. Any Confederate forces inside these attacking armies get smashed into the mountains of a very unfriendly (to the CSA) territory. Anaconda never really went beyond this point in the planning stages since it was assumed the South would surrender before the Union Army advanced any further (i.e., the Transmississippi and the deepest regions of the Deep South.

No it didn't.

Scott's plan was NOT to invade the south at all, but rather to surround it and wait it out. The thrust down the Mississippi etc. were McClellan's plans.
 
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