I will add a remark made by Capt. Cecil Battine, the accomplished military critic already quoted: "Probably it was the want of information due to the lack of cooperating cavalry, which lay at the root of the halting tactics of the Confederate leaders. Thus, every move of the enemy took them by surprise, and inspired them with unnecessary caution at the very moment when boldness would have gained so much." ("Crisis of the Confederacy," p. 195.)
Napoleon's maxim might have been advantageously remembered by Stuart, "An army superior in cavalry will always have the advantage of covering its movements, being well informed of the enemy's movements, and giving battle only when it chooses."[1]
III. MOVEMENTS OF THE INFANTRY.[2]
I turn now to the movements of the infantry of Lee's army. Ewell's corps moved northward from Hagerstown on the 23d of June, taking up the line of march for Chambersburg, and Carlisle, with Harrisburg as its objective. It reached Carlisle June 27th. Hill's corps crossed the Potomac on the 24th of June, and marched through Hagerstown and Chambersburg to Fayetteville, where it arrived June 27th. Longstreet crossed the Potomac on the 25th and 26th of June, and reached Chambersburg on the 27th.
- ↑ "Napoleon, as a General," by Count Yorck von Wartenburg, p. 246.
- ↑
MISFORTUNES DUE TO ABSENCE OF CAVALRY.
1. Failure to occupy Gettysburg. — (Henderson).
2. Battle of first day and compulsion to fight an offensive battle the second.
3. Failure to pursue and destroy defeated enemy.
4. Flank march not feasible July 2d. — (Henderson).
5. Had Lee known true situation of Union army July 1st, Col. Fiebiger says he could have destroyed the 2d Federal Corps. — (Gettysburg, pp. 132-133).(The Union army was under orders to move towards York, A. M., June 29th).
Decisive victory possible for Lee had the cavalry done its part in ascertaining the position of the enemy. — (Id.)
The failure of Confederates to profit by their advantages, July 1st, was due to a single cause defective information, due to the absence of the cavalry. — Id. p. 134.
