Invasion63
Recruit
- 2
- Jan 2, 2010
The South lost Gettysburg for several reasons. The most important reasons were Pickett's charge and the ratio of Confederate to Union soldiers. Pickett's charge was an attack on an open field and it was uphill. In terms of the amount of people, the Confederates were well behind in number. Unlike other battles in which the Union attacked the South, this battle was the other way around. The Confederates decided to invade Pennsylvania and not only did they have less soldiers, but they had far from the 3:1 ratio that the invading side needs. To answer your last question, I don't think it was likely at all that the Union leaders would have sought after a peace negotiation. They were aware that foreign intervention was no longer a threat and that the small Confederate army that had suffered tons of collateral damage was struggling. In fact, I recently interviewed James McPherson and he made it clear that he felt that a peace negotiation was an invalid reason for invading the North. This is why I disagree with one of the things that "Senator" said a couple posts earlier. He wrote, "Even if they had not the war would have gone on even longer leading to the U.S. to ask for peace later, from being war weary." It was the South that didn't want the war to go on longer. That was part of Lee's strategical plan. He knew the Confederates couldn't last long.