No charge at Gettysburg

NapoleonXIV

Banned
You're General Longstreet at Gettysburg, just before Picketts's Charge Lee comes up to you. "I've decided to take your advice and cancel this charge" he says to you, "...what do you think I should do instead?"

Well??
 
well, if I'm Longstreet, I try to give Lee the worst advice possible and tell him I've changed my mind... CHARGE!! I'm not about to help the damn CSA win the war.

But if I have to give what I think is the best advice, then I'd say that, charge or no charge, there's not really much the Confederates can do here. They've already lost a bunch of men, and the Union is parked on all the best ground. Basically, the Confederates should retreat, move around somewhere and find some good ground of their own choosing, and make the Union come to them...
 
As Codeman said, let the AOP attack the ANV in a good defensive position. This was supposed to be Lee's strategy after all. There is, however, the problem of breaking contact between the armies so that the ANV can withdraw without being harassed thus not being able to set up the type of battle Lee wants to fight. Whether Meade decides to conduct a vigorous pursuit is thus the key.

Of course, if Longstreet had it his way, the ANV wouldn't have fought at Gettysburg at all, save for a skirmish on the first day. Barring that, Longstreet would have liked to have swung to his extreme right, on the second day, & threaten the rear of the Union line to the south-east of Big Round Top. If so then much of the AOP would have been trapped between Longstreet's corps, to the south, & those of Ewell's & Hill's corps to the north.
 
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