The Bloodiest Battle of Gettysburg
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Hello my friends, Sakui here, and welcome back to an episode of the History of Everything podcast. Hello my friends, and I have something very interesting for you all here today. This is going to be weird. This is going to be weird. I need to stress that here right now. This is not an episode that I am actually created myself. It is not something that my wife has created. This is actually not anything like that. This is something that a listener has sent in.

Hey, listener, for the first time, we are getting an episode that is specifically coming from a fan of the podcast that really just really wanted their episode to be made. Now, when I say that, this is fascinating because considering everything that's been going on this week, it was actually my 30th birthday. I turned 30 and I had so many ad deals to do with YouTube that I quite literally worked myself into a state of sickness and then was not able to actually do anything.

Which, yes, I know that I've run behind a number of things for the podcast, but that's why specifically this week, as it is that you listen to this episode, just note that there are a lot of things that I'm actually going to be working on with specifically the podcast this week. So we should not actually run into that problem for quite a while. Anyway, this is how this thing goes. A listener note was even attached to this in the first place.

Dear listeners, please bear in mind this series was not written by James or Stakuyi, but by a fellow listener. I am not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, I'm just a dumb blonde who happens to be a Civil War reenactor. Any factual errors or opinions are mine. If you don't like it, or it pisses you off, that's on me, not those guys. The sources I use range from Wikipedia, online articles from the American Battlefield Trust, and others. The Gettysburg Animated Battle Map app

and over a dozen books in my personal collection. Even my experiences as a Civil War reenactor over the past eight years. Don't forget to support the podcast, buy some merch, and buy some coffee. That is the preamble. Or not preamble, that is the listener note that is sent into this in the first place. I struggle to...

Not even think. I struggle to come to terms with what kind of voice I should even utilize with this, because the sheer amount of stuff that was sent in, the varying different notes, the maps, everything, are absolutely fascinating. So...

To clarify, this is an episode that was written by a listener. At the same time, my editor went in and was able to go and make sure that the script flowed well before it is that I came and presented it to you, because a lot of the things that I even do for this podcast are more conversational. I mean, it's me literally telling you all a story or telling my wife a story and she reacts to it, and that's normally how this goes. So I think this one is going to be slightly different.

I'm not just going to be telling a story, I'm going to be doing a dramatic reading. Are y'all ready for this? This, my friends, is going to be the Battle of Gettysburg. One of the most pivotal battles in the entirety of the American Civil War. In fact, I realize now, I haven't done necessarily a dedicated series or even an episode to either the American Revolution or the American Civil War.

That is something we're probably going to need to fix here in the future. Because right now we have a whole, what are we at at this point? Eight parts? Seven parts? We have done many different parts on a Vietnam series where every single year of the Vietnam War we are doing as an episode with a couple bonus things that were implemented at the same time. Anyway, I've gone on for long enough. Here it is. We are going to start. Now, my friends, the preamble. You ready for this? Dramatic voice time.

The Battle of Gettysburg would be the turning point of the American Civil War, and would not only be the bloodiest battle of the war, but the bloodiest battle of the entire Western Hemisphere. Also, at the same time, you're going to get me interjecting things as I'm reacting to things as I am doing this, so get ready for that. The only battle to come anywhere close to the bloodbath in Gettysburg would occur three years later at the Battle of Teyuti in Paraguay, which resulted in over 17,000 casualties.

In and around a small peaceful town of 2,400 in southern Pennsylvania, two armies numbering over 160,000 men with over 600 cannon would collide. After three days, nearly a third of those soldiers would be killed, wounded, or captured. But first, as always, since we do this here on the History of Everything, some context. This is going to dive a little bit into the American Civil War.

Due to the election of Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln in November of 1860, South Carolina would vote the following month to secede from the United States. Over the next few months, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas would follow suit by February of 1861. By May of that year, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas would be welcomed into the newly formed Confederate States of America.

Now the reasoning behind secession and even the whole subject of slavery in the United States would require its own podcast, not even just episode, probably a channel. Like its entire thing wouldn't be necessary in order to dive into that because it is a massive can of worms. So for the sake of time, let's play a lightning round of events. The first two years of the war for the Union and the Army of the Potomac weren't going well for them. First, April 1861, the first battle of Manassas, the Union would lose.

August 1862, the Second Battle of Manassas. The Union would lose. Third, George McClellan would launch the Peninsula Campaign in Virginia. The Union would lose. Fourth, McClellan would be replaced by Ambrose Burnside, which, fun fact, that whole thing, if you know the guy I'm talking about here who has the massive sideburns, that is Burnside with his sideburns. That's where the whole thing comes from in the first place. December 1862, the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia.

The Union would lose. Setburnside is out. Hooker is in. May 1863, the Battle of Chancellorsville. The Union wins! No, no they don't. They lose. It wasn't really going well for them here, at least in this part. But in the Western theater, a general by the name of Ulysses S. Grant was kicking some ass and taking some names. February of 1862, the capture of Fort Henry and Donaldson.

April 1862: Battle of Shiloh, with nearly 24,000 casualties, the bloodiest battle thus far. May 1863: Grant would lay siege to Vicksburg, Mississippi. If captured, the Union would control the Mississippi River and from there cut the Confederacy in two. On September 17th, 1862, this would see the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single day of the war with over 22,000 casualties of all different types.

When I say that, it was still a tactically inconclusive battle as it didn't defeat Lee and his army of Northern Virginia. But it was a strategic victory that stimmied Bobby Lee's first attempt to bring the war out of Virginia and into the North. Now, prior to all of this, President Abraham Lincoln wanted to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, but his advisors advised him to wait until a Union victory could occur that was solid enough before issuing such a drastic executive order.

And so boom, Antietam is rated as being good enough, and on January 1st, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect. This would change the legal status of 3.5 million enslaved African Americans to being now freed. With quote, "...all persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of the states, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the U.S., shall be then thenceforward forever free."

Now, this wouldn't affect the border states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and the western counties of Virginia, which would then be the future state of West Virginia. At this point, Tennessee was fully under Union control, and this was specifically meant to target slaves in the south. Now, why would Lee want to invade the north after his attempt in September was thwarted? Well, there are a few reasons.

First, Lee and his army of Northern Virginia were fresh off the heels of inflicting a humiliating defeat on the Army of the Potomac on the battlefield of Chancellorsville in May.

By the summer of 1863, the bulk of fighting in the East would occur in Virginia, which would see the Army of the Potomac, at one point, reach mere miles of the Confederate capital, Richmond, and another invasion of the North would move the war out of the war-ravaged state and into the lush lands of Maryland and Pennsylvania. Third, it would cement foreign recognition of the Confederate states within the cotton-hungry countries of Europe if they were able to achieve some success.

However, the passing of the Emancipation Proclamation at the beginning of the year now changed the dynamics and motivations for waging war in the first place. Instead of just being a war pitting the North's desire to preserve the Union against the South's desire to preserve states' rights and secede in the eyes of the North, the war was now, at least in the eyes of the North or the way that it was being publicly framed, about eliminating slavery in the United States as a whole.

Fourth, a successful push into the North could cause Peace Democrats, a.k.a. Copperheads, to pressure the Lincoln administration to bring a war to an end and cave in to Confederate demands. So it is then, my friends, that Lee heads North.

During the month of June, several battles between the North and South would occur, but most were either inconclusive or minor Confederate victories. By June 30th, a Confederate brigade of cavalry under Major General J.E.B. Stewart would clash with Pennsylvania militia a mere three miles from Pennsylvania's capital of Harrisburg.

Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, numbering approximately 75,000 men and 270 cannon, would have a rendezvous with Destiny and Major General George Meade's 95,000 men and 360 cannon of the Army of the Potomac. Oh yeah, and Meade got his appointment to the command on the 28th of June, so just days before the first shots were fired, it was quite a bit. Now at this point, here is something that needs to be discussed. Unit sizes.

Allow me to explain a regiment and a brigade and all this, as it's a number of things that may be a little bit confusing. Well, even now, with us explaining that can still be confusing. So, a regiment is about a thousand men, but it can vary due to losses, disease, desertion, and more. You could have an understrength, overstrength, etc. It's usually around a thousand.

Brigades were typically four regiments, but they could be made up of more or less. In the Army of Northern Virginia, most brigades were made up of regiments from the same state, with some exceptions, and the opposite was true of the Army of the Potomac. The brigades in the ANV would be named and referred to by the brigade CO. The same with the ANV's division and corps. Why didn't the Army of the Potomac do so? Well, no clue. It's really unclear at that point.

So at that point, you have a division, which would be anywhere between 3 and 5 brigades. You'd have corps, which were usually composed of around 3 divisions. You'd have an army, which could be 2 or more corps. And the ANV would field 3 and the AOP 7. And both sides would have cavalry and artillery in varying different amounts, depending upon what it is that you could get your hands on. Now, here it is that we get into the setting then.

In 1863, Gettysburg would be a town of 2,400 people and was known as the Mecca of shoe production for the state of Pennsylvania. Like, I'm not even kidding. That's kind of what it was. It was basically a massive stockpile of shoes. Something, as it turns out, that the Confederate Army was actually desperately in need of. At least that's the story that went around in the area for a very long time.

This, though, is a myth, whose origins were due to Major General Harry Heth's post-war memoirs, where he stated that he had heard rumors that shoes could be found in town. And why did this myth persist, you may wonder? Well, because his memoir was one of the first to be published from the South's perspective. General Lee would never write a memoir. Heth's reasoning for shoes would, in his opinion, hopefully cover his ask for engaging in a battle and defying his orders. But more on that later.

While there wasn't necessarily any shoes, there was something even more important to an army: roads. Ten roads and a railroad radiated out of the town of Gettysburg like the spokes on a wheel. And these roads still exist to this day actually. Starting from the north at 12 o'clock we have Carlisle Road, Harrisburg, York Pike, Hanover, Baltimore Pike, Tawny Town, Emmitsburg, Fairfield, Chambersburg Pike, and Mummasburg. All of these different roads.

It is into this setting that the Confederate Division, under the command of Major General Henry Hepp of Lieutenant General A.P. Hill's III Corps, would make contact with Union cavalry under the command of Major General John Buford, three miles northwest of Gettysburg on the Chambersburg Pike. First Lieutenant Marcellus Jones of the 8th Illinois Cavalry is credited with firing the first shot of the battle. A marker marks that spot today. The time is 7.30 a.m., and it's on.

General Beaufort, recognizing the importance of the high ground south of town, would place his cavalry regiments on several ridges named Hare, McPherson, and Seminary Ridge. Due to the names of predominant hills and ridges of the battle, I will admit naming them as much as possible for ease of listeners without using a map, because at this point, we're talking about the actual positions on a battlefield, and it can get really messy really fast with trying to understand where literally anything is. There's Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak

Oak Hill, McPherson's Ridge, McPherson's Woods, Herbst Woods, Seminary Ridge, Seminary Hill, Cemetery Hill, Cemetery Ridge, Barlow's Knoll, Culp's Hill, etc. Welcome to Natty Yacht.

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Now you can probably see then at that point why it is that this would be confusing, and that is just day one. This is honestly something that when describing works better as perhaps a YouTube video in which something is actually in front of you and you can see, versus just listening to my voice, but that is how it would go.

Buford's 2,700 troopers would be facing off against Heth's 7,600 infantry. Union reinforcements would be desperately needed in the fighting to come, so messengers were sent south to the commanders of the AOP's 1st and 11th Corps, led by Major Generals John Reynolds and O.O. Howard, respectively. Here's a thing that you need to understand about the way that fighting would work here at the time. We're going to have to talk about guns.

Firearms, for the most part, by this stage in firearms history, were mostly muzzle-loaded, meaning that the powder and the round were loaded in the front. And there's-- oh dear god, there's so much more that I could go on about here, because technically speaking, there are guns that you had prior to this that were breechloaders, or at least variants of, and there's multiple different types of the way that things could be done. However, every kind of standard rifle utilized by the military were muzzle-loaded.

There were some breech-loading rifles that were used during this battle, but we will go more into that here later. To ensure that the rifle would not only fire, but to be in condition to be fired again, the command, "'Load in nine times,' would be given."

During battle, some steps could be combined/bypassed for obvious reasons, and the CliffsNotes version of this basically goes: 1. Take cartridge. The paper cartridge taken from the cartridge box. 2. Tear cartridge. You tear the cartridge open with your teeth. 3. Charge cartridge. You load the powder charge, which is 65 grains of black powder.

For ram cartridge, take the ramrod and ram down the round, which is usually a .58 caliber mini-A ball, something along those lines. There could be variants, but this is one of the most common ones. Many regiments wore smoothbore muskets, and some units, like the Union's Irish Brigade, would use buck and ball, a .69 caliber ball with...

3-6-30 caliber buckshot to improve the chances of a hit at close range. There's all different kinds of variants. Step 5: Place a percussion cap with fulminated mercury inside into the nipple or cone of the weapon. 6: Pull the hammer to full cock and fire.

Now, the Union Cavalry would have some breech-loading rifles, such as the single-shot Sharps and burn-sized Carbines. Which, or Carbines, I guess it really depends. I've always said Carbine, but I know that a whole bunch of people say Carbine, and I know that's one of the common ways it's associated in history. I'm probably going to get some shit for saying it like that in the first place, but that's how I've always said it. So, if anyone gets annoyed, screw it, I'm calling it a Carbine, because I think the name is better that way in the first place. Now...

They even would have Spencer's repeating rifle, which had a seven round tubular magazine in the stock. A trained soldier by this time was able to get off three aimed shots in one minute. The Spencer rifle, the sharps rifle, could fire an astonishing 14 to 20 rounds and then 8 to 10 rounds per minute respectively.

Buford's men would put this firepower advantage to the test, and this in war was a massive difference, but really only if you had enough of them to be able to use it at any given time. Union cavalry were slowly pushed back towards the town, until at around 10 a.m. when the vanguard of the Union's 1st Corps would arrive and take up positions, directed personally by 1st Corps CO M.G. John Reynolds.

This vanguard would consist of two brigades, one under the command of Brigadier General Lysander Cutler and the other Brigadier General G. Solomon Meredith. The Tennessee and Alabama regiments, commanded by Brigadier General G. James Archer, expected to square up against local militia. But, according to legend, when they saw their opponents, they said, "'There are those damned black-hatted fellas again. Taint no militia. It's the AOP.'"

The Black Hatted Fellows refers to the Iron Brigade and the "hardy hat" that they wore, a regulation dress hat for enlisted men. The Iron Brigade had a well-earned reputation for excellent discipline, ferocity in combat, and strong courage, hence the name, the Iron Brigade. But also because, you know, disciplined and actually staying in battle, they were known for suffering heavy casualties.

In the Second Battle of Bull Run, 725 out of 1,900 men were casualties. In the Battle of Antietam, 343 out of 800. We are talking about numbers that are close to 50%.

Cutler would go and split his brigade, two regiments to the left of the Chambersburg Pike and the other three on the other side of the pike near an unfinished railroad cut, which is an unfinished railroad. It would be completed post-war and is actually still there, though at this point it's not really operational.

These regiments would be attacked by regiments from Mississippi and North Carolina and inflict some gruesome damage. Union losses there among the three regiments would be 62%, 50%, and the 147th New York Regiment would suffer 79% casualties. This, as you can imagine, was quite severe.

And emboldened by victory, the Confederates would chase after the retreating Federals, causing their lines to become disorganized. At that point, since two out of the three of their regimental commanding officers became casualties, and the brigade CO was nowhere to be found, Cutler's other units and a regiment from the Iron Brigade would fire into the Rebels. When the damnedest thing actually happened, they disappeared. It turns out that they had sought refuge in the railroad cut. Bad idea.

Not only were they disorganized, but in some spots, the Cut was as deep as 15 feet, a poor defense position. Both sides would suffer terribly, with over 200 rebels being taken prisoner, and the regiment from the Iron Brigade, the 6th Wisconsin, losing half of its men. 600 yards to the south of the Cut, the rest of the Iron Brigade would push back Archer's brigade and take Archer as prisoner.

When the 1st Corps' new commanding officer, Major General Abner Doubleday, met his pre-war colleague, he said, To this, Archer replied, Interesting side note, Doubleday is the guy erroneously credited with inventing baseball, which is a whole other thing that you could create a podcast episode on. But, what a minute.

I thought Reynolds was in charge? You may ask. Well, he now lay dead, the highest ranking general to be killed during the battle. While riding on horseback along the east side of some woods, he shouted to his men, forward men, forward for God's sake and drive those fellows from the woods. But then not long after uttering those words, a mini-ball would strike the general behind the ear and gone. He was dead.

Controversy has surrounded both the location of Reynolds' death and who exactly shot him. The most famous theory is that, you know, you have a Confederate sharpshooter and maybe a Confederate volley, possible friendly fire.

Maybe. We could actually be the case. It will probably be one of those tiny little details that are lost in the chaos of Fog of War and we will never actually know. Especially considering the weapons and the fact that you can really say at the end that it's more than likely, oh hey, he was killed by an American. We can say that. When General O.O. Howard of the 11th Corps learned of Reynolds' death at 1130, he would assume overall command of all Union forces in and around Gettysburg.

He immediately sent requests for reinforcement to General Daniel Sickles III Corps and Henry Slocum's XII Corps. Also, around 11:30, a lull would occur along the lines. Henry Heth, Mr. Just-Looking-For-Shoes, found himself in a little bit of a pickle. He had been under orders to avoid a general engagement until the ANV had arrived in force.

What he had done, by venturing into Gettysburg, was conduct a reconnaissance in force with a whole damn division. For apparently shoes, of which there were none. Now granted, his troops had inflicted heavy losses on the Union's I Corps, but he wasn't doing too well himself, and men from the AOP's XI Corps were coming. However, more rebels from the ANV were now arriving as reinforcements.

So at this point, then, it must be said that while the Confederates had fewer corps than the Union, they were larger in number in regards to the number of men. The ANV's brigades and division strength were twice that of the AOP at this point. By 1230, Heth's last two brigades, numbering over 3,500 men, would arrive. The division of 6,700 under the command of Major General Dorsey Pender would arrive as well, northwest out of town.

There was still one division from A.P. Hill's Corps unaccounted for, and that 7,100-man division would arrive later in the afternoon, but would see no action yet. Did archaeologists discover Noah's Ark? Is the rapture coming as soon as the Euphrates River dries up? Does the Bible condemn abortion? Don't you wish you had a trustworthy academic resource to help make sense of all of this? ♪

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Be sure to check out the Useless Information Podcast. That's the Useless Information Podcast, podcasting worldwide since 2008 and available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening right now. Be sure to check it out. North out of town, an 8,000-man division from Lieutenant General Richard Ewell, 2nd Corps, would arrive via the Mumsburg and Carlisle Roads, and another division would be on its way coming from the northeast.

Add it all up, and you get over 18,000 fresh Confederate troops, with another 12,000 on the way, and Lee had yet another corps, almost 21,000 strong, marching towards Gettysburg. Meanwhile, more brigades from the 1st Corps would arrive, as would Howard's 11th Corps by 2 p.m. Howard would link his corps' left flank to that of the 1st Corps' right by 2.30 p.m.

The old rascal General Bobby Lee would arrive and set up his headquarters at the Thompson House on the north side of Chambersburg Pike. AOP CO George Meade was still nine miles to the south. The houses that both Lee and Meade would use for the respective headquarters still stand to this day. Now, Lee would tell his generals to go play. No more restrictions about avoiding a general engagement. Something Heth was supposed to have done in the first place, but at this point, everything was said and done.

A.P. Hill would be allowed to resume his attacks northwest and west of town from the morning. The fighting in the morning was bad, but the fighting in the afternoon was worse for the men on either side. By day's end, Heth was wounded in action. He had a head wound. The commanding officer of the Iron Brigade was also wounded in action. A head wound, and he even had his horse fall on him. The 26th North Carolina of 839 men would lose over 600 men, including their commanding officer who was killed in action.

This is already absolutely horrible, but they would lose an additional 120 or more on July 3rd. Company F would lose all 88 enlisted men and three officers. The 24th Michigan, 399 out of 496. The 151st Pennsylvania, 333 out of 467. The 16th Maine, 263 out of 298.

The 157th in New York, 307 out of 409. The Brigade of North Carolina, over 800 of 1,350. I just need you to understand here just how severe this is in the first place. In the U.S. military today, a unit is considered combat ineffective if it suffers over 30% of its personnel killed or wounded. That's not just killed, that is killed or wounded, just in general casualties.

So a company losing more than 50% is a tragedy. That one company we talked about had a 100% casualty and dead percentage. That's not just a tragedy, that is unheard of in levels of casualties. When the CO would be knocked out of action, a subordinate would be given command. Since Heth was wounded, Pettigrew would take command, being a brigade commander himself.

One of Pettigrew's regimental commanders must replace him as brigade commander, and now someone must replace the regimental commander. Another example of the rate of attrition among officers ranging in ranks from between lieutenant colonels to lieutenant generals, in the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division, 2nd Corps of the AOP, the brigade would be led by three colonels and one lieutenant colonel, meaning three of them became casualties, one being killed in action and two wounded, one mortally.

With fresh brigades and with Lee's blessing, Pettigrew would take his division and resume their offensive from the morning. His Virginia and North Carolina units would push two brigades from the 1st Corps back to the Lutheran Theological Seminary just on the edge of town. Two other brigades from the 1st had retreated earlier. Things weren't going any easier, though, for Union forces north of town. General Howard's 11th Corps was still suffering the effects of the Union loss at Chancellorsville.

There, the Corps went into battle with over 12,000 men, and would take to the field at Gettysburg with around 9,000. The 11th had been routed by a surprise attack led by Stonewall Jackson, which turned the tide of the Battle of the South's direction. The Corps was composed of mostly German-Americans, which led to derisive and xenophobic remarks pertaining to their fighting spirit and resolve. By the end of Gettysburg, the 11th would lose another 3,800 men.

With only around 9,000 men covering an area of a mile of mostly farmland, there was really no way they could halt the southern juggernaut of four Confederate brigades attacking from the north and northeast. By 430, both Union corps would retreat through the streets of Gettysburg. Some units were said to retreat in an orderly manner, some just dropped their shit and ran. That's it. Some were ordered to stand as long as possible, like the 16th Main Unit mentioned earlier, which explains its incredibly high losses.

One brigade commanding officer from the 11th, BG Alexander, and I'm going to butcher the name on this here, Schminfenning? Dear God, there's no way I can pronounce that. But he would have his horse shot under him, and surrounded by rebels, would be forced to hide out behind a house between two swill barrels, a woodshed, and stacked wood that he arranged to better conceal himself.

He scared the bejesus out of the lady of the house when she went to feed her hogs the next day, but hey, she would feed him, and he would return to his men on July 4th. When Meade heard of Reynolds' wounding, he summoned the second corps commander, Winfield Hancock. Meade made sure that Hancock was under orders to take overall command and to determine if the town was an appropriate place for a major battle. Hancock was chosen because Meade knew him better than Howard, and because he, Hancock, could be actually trusted in a crisis.

Plus, Meade was the guy in charge of the Army of the Potomac, so it was either his way or nothing. Like, that's just the end of it. At 1.10pm, Hancock was issued his orders and sent on his way to Gettysburg. When Hancock informed General Howard, who outranked Hancock, of the news, versions vary about this, but it went roughly like this. Hancock saying, I'm in charge now. Howard would respond, no you don't, I outrank you. Says who? The boss says, yeah, that's not cool.

As you can imagine, this was a deep... God, what is the term I'm looking for in here? I'm paraphrasing, of course. Extremely so. By day's end, the remnants of the Federal 1st and 11th Corps had fallen back to the high ground south of town called Cemetery Hill between Tawny Town Road and Baltimore Pike. The rebels would occupy the center of town with large numbers of men camped out to the east and west. Reinforcements from both sides would continue to arrive during the night and into the early morning of July 2nd.

The final divisions of Ewell's and Hill's Corps would arrive and two-thirds of the ANV's I Corps under Lieutenant General James Longstreet would arrive early the next morning. During this same time frame, Hancock's II Corps would take up positions on Cemetery Ridge. Meade would have Abner Doubleday replaced as CO of I Corps on Cemetery Ridge with Howard's battered XI Corps on his right flank on Cemetery Hill.

The left would be Hancock's 2nd Corps and Major General Daniel Sickles' 3rd Corps. That we're going to be going more on about that guy later. Major General Henry Slocum's 12th Corps and Major General George Sykes' 5th Corps had yet to reach the field, but were marching towards the battle. Finally, Major General George Sedgwick's 6th Corps was still in Maryland.

Yeah, at this point, is that a little bit confusing? I understand. At this point, you would really just need to look at maps to understand what it is that I am talking about here. And one term that you will hear time and time again in these episodes is going to be high ground maps.

High ground in any kind of battle is incredibly important and General Lee understood the importance of specifically securing the high ground south of town and had earlier ordered his second corps commander, Richard Ewell, to quote, carry the hill, this being referring to Cemetery Hill, occupied by the enemy, if he found it practical, but to avoid a general engagement until the arrival of other divisions of the army. And to, again, remember this, this is a key part of it,

Avoid a general engagement. Sound familiar? So if it's up to Yule to decide if he can capture Cemetery Hill, could he? If so, how could he take the hill while avoiding a general engagement? So what does he do? Nothing. Yule had requested assistance from A&V's 3rd Corps, but General A.P. Hill claimed he had lost too many men already and Lee was reluctant to bring up any divisions from his reserves.

Ewell was going to assault Culp's Hill until one of his division commanders informed him of the presence of Union forces, the Army of the Potomac's 12th Corps, Major General Henry Slocum commanding, coming down the York Pike, north-northeast of Gettysburg.

Now Lee's orders to Ewell would come under much criticism by his subordinates and historians alike by leaving his second corps commander too much discretion and that Ewell's predecessor, Thomas Stonewall Jackson, would have acted more aggressively and surely would have taken Cemetery Hill, which would have given the Confederates an excellent location to place their artillery batteries in the upcoming battle. Unfortunately for the South, Jackson died of pneumonia eight days after being wounded by friendly fire during the Battle of Chancellorsville back in May. But wait a minute.

Where's Lee's cavalry? Where's that Jeb Stuart guy? Well, he is northeast of the battlefield, out towards York, Pennsylvania, around 30 miles away. While Stuart was out conducting raids, he deprived Lee of the eyes and ears of the army, which led to Henry Heth's division's scrap with Buford's cavalry, leading to a battle that neither army was expecting. This would leave Lee blind about other Union forces for much of the second day as well.

The first day's battle was bloody, with over 15,000 combined casualties. But wait, it's about to get so much worse. Now my friends, at this point, we're going to go ahead and stop here. For the rest of the story, come back for our next episode where we're going to be discussing the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. And by all means, please check out Patreon for exclusive content, which we will be catching up on here soon. Again, I know with how it is that this sounds, this is such a unique story.

Experience? How would I even phrase this here at this point? It's a unique circumstance that we find ourselves in here at this point. Thank you to James for being my editor and helping me along and helping to create the Vietnam episodes. And thank you to the listener who actually sent in this episode on Gettysburg here in the first place. I'm going to need to do an entire thing dedicated to the varying different battlefields or at least spheres within the American Civil War. I probably need to do that about a number of different conflicts as that would be quite important.

Either way, my friends, I think that we're going to go ahead and end things here today. Thank you all very much for listening. I appreciate all of you, and I will see you all here next time. Goodbye, my friends. Best of luck to you. I'll see you next time. Serial killers. Strange disappearances. Unexplained mysteries. Terrible disasters. I'm Nate Hale, and in my show, The Conspirators, I'm here to tell you all the stories from history your teacher never told you about. Hear the real story behind the Bermuda Triangle.

Or about the serial killer operating in Nazi-occupied Paris? Or what dark secret lurked within the walls of a Scottish castle? Listen to The Conspirators on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.