If it were like a real "embedded" reporter, he'd spend the whole battle with JEB Stuart's cavalry.

I hope a miniball snaps their head back as they run up to Devil's Den and in the weeds, as the insect's bites, the thirst, the pain of bleeding out, with cries all around on that battlefield CRY DIXIE!

I always feel a little odd wishing folks in the deep south, "Happy Fourth!", but at least they're not in Vicksburg.

I came a little, but then laughed.

The battle of what now?

My great-great-grandfather's name is on the Gettysburg Memorial, so I'm really getting a kick out of these replies.

\YA RLY

Wow, it's like the NASCAR of LARPing...

vertiaset: Hey Civil War buffs. Is there a single case where an "up the middle" charge by infantry against an enemy of roughly equal force entrenched on the high ground, a la Pickett's Charge or Marye's Heights at Fredricksburg actually prevailed? I ask because for the life of me I can't figure out why it was attempted so many times in that war.

Are you referring to the American Civil War, 19th Century conflicts, or just war in general?

So is this LARPing?

I'm a Civil War buff that dyes my girlfriends pubes gray so I can fantasize that I'm making out with Robert E. Lee when I go down on her, so I'm really getting a kick out of this thread.

vertiaset: Hey Civil War buffs. Is there a single case where an "up the middle" charge by infantry against an enemy of roughly equal force entrenched on the high ground, a la Pickett's Charge or Marye's Heights at Fredricksburg actually prevailed? I ask because for the life of me I can't figure out why it was attempted so many times in that war.

I ask myself that question every time I see the same tactic being used in football.

vertiaset: Broadside

vertiaset: Hey Civil War buffs. Is there a single case where an "up the middle" charge by infantry against an enemy of roughly equal force entrenched on the high ground, a la Pickett's Charge or Marye's Heights at Fredricksburg actually prevailed? I ask because for the life of me I can't figure out why it was attempted so many times in that war.

Are you referring to the American Civil War, 19th Century conflicts, or just war in general?

Post Napoleon, in the rifled musket era, mid to late 19th century.

The Battle of Lookout Mountain
possibly

The next two days, July 3rd and 4th, completely shifted the balance of the Civil War. The South went from essentially undefeated and unchecked, moving at will within Union territory, to battered and retreating on the defensive, on July 3rd at Gettysburg. And on July 4th, they lost control of one of the most important cities along the Mississippi, at Vicksburg. Just something to remember for Independence Day.

holiday_inn_in_cambodia: The Battle of Lookout Mountain
possibly

That's the one where Optimus Prime died, right?

Solty Dog: holiday_inn_in_cambodia: The Battle of Lookout Mountain
possibly

That's the one where Optimus Prime died, right?

Actually that's the battle where Orson Welles and Judd Nelson flew the wright brothers' plane across the atlantic on a single thimble-full of corn oil. Single-handedly won us the civil war, they did

Hmmm... Well, as far as the American Civil War goes, you can look up "frontal assault" in Wikipedia for some notable successful attacks (all by the Union, interestingly). However, for the time period, your perception is completely accurate. The Napoleonic mindset carried on throughout the rest of the 19th century and well into the 20th Century, resulting in disasters such as the Somme in the First World War.

I was just at Gettysburg today, so I'm getting a kick...

/never got to use that before
//Fág an Bealach

Solty Dog: holiday_inn_in_cambodia: The Battle of Lookout Mountain
possibly

That's the one where Optimus Prime died, right?

Oh geez. I just had a vision of the amount of bull if they had placed that scene in Valley Forge. Dodged a bullet there, I think.

/Just saw it, glad I didn't pay money for it, but was cool to see so many locations in Philly that I know, including Drexel U.
//Go Dragons!

Doesn't the Battle of Pittsburgh usually happen in early February?

Oh man. I hate the Dollywood that Gettysburg has become. And the new museum? Not worth the admission. But....

Let me tell you about 2nd Lt. Dyer Pettijohn of Company D, 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters, deployed on the extreme left flank at the Slyder Farm on July 2nd, and how he managed to get all but one of his 12-man scouting party captured by the Texan and Alabamian skirmishers before they advanced on Devil's Den. They were the trip wire for the trip wire for Sickles' Third Corps. Eat it, Chamberlain (and Vincent)!

No takers?

I'll see you at O'Rourke's, Gettysburg farkers.

vertiaset: holiday_inn_in_cambodia



vertiaset: Hey Civil War buffs. Is there a single case where an "up the middle" charge by infantry against an enemy of roughly equal force entrenched on the high ground, a la Pickett's Charge or Marye's Heights at Fredricksburg actually prevailed? I ask because for the life of me I can't figure out why it was attempted so many times in that war.

The Battle of Lookout Mountain
possibly

Many thanks, now I'm off to google.

Was gonna say Chattanooga, not only lookout mtn but the Union charge the next day. Dunno off the top of my head if forces were roughly equal, but that was right up the middle and uphill.

vertiaset: Broadside

vertiaset: Hey Civil War buffs. Is there a single case where an "up the middle" charge by infantry against an enemy of roughly equal force entrenched on the high ground, a la Pickett's Charge or Marye's Heights at Fredricksburg actually prevailed? I ask because for the life of me I can't figure out why it was attempted so many times in that war.

Are you referring to the American Civil War, 19th Century conflicts, or just war in general?

Post Napoleon, in the rifled musket era, mid to late 19th century.

My (admittedly amateur) understanding has been that tactics hadn't adapted to changes in military technology quite yet, which set the stage for many of the bloodbaths of the civil war.

Solty Dog: holiday_inn_in_cambodia: The Battle of Lookout Mountain
possibly

That's the one where Optimus Prime died, right?

Ah yes, I remember their stirring battle-cry, "For Autobots and the Union!"

Peter Watkins unavailable for comment.

To The Escape Zeppelin!: Solty Dog: holiday_inn_in_cambodia: The Battle of Lookout Mountain
possibly

That's the one where Optimus Prime died, right?

Ah yes, I remember their stirring battle-cry, "For Autobots and the Union!"

And who can forget the battle hymn of the republic:

YOU'VE GOT THE TOUCH, YOU'VE GOT THE POWER!"

Yes, it was the battle of Missionary Ridge. 23,000 Union against 14,000 Confederates, but it was a case where the attack prevailed because (kinda) the defenders had the high ground.

Mr. Potatoass: I'm a Civil War buff that dyes my girlfriends pubes gray so I can fantasize that I'm making out with Robert E. Lee when I go down on her, so I'm really getting a kick out of this thread.

Wow, um that's just really distrubing.

Anyways, I'd really like to see some reporters embeded on Sherman's March to the Sea.

I was kind of hoping the reporters would play along and act like they had cable news in the 19th Century just for shiats and giggles.

The technology was ahead of the tactics, but when that became apparent they went to ground in earnest. Both sides used rifled muskets and guns ("cannons") from the start, with both Federals and Confederate infantry utilizing imported Belgian, French, and English firearms, re-tooled domestic smoothbores, blah blah blah.

Napoleonic tactics were romanticized from the start and only after Matthew Brady showed the public his series of wet-plate photographs taken after the battle of Antietam did people start to understand the scope of the slaughter.

Speaking of Sherman... (new window)

Hosted by the people who get rained on, eat three days' rations, and don't bring their families.

PJ_the_Barbarian: To The Escape Zeppelin!: Solty Dog: holiday_inn_in_cambodia: The Battle of Lookout Mountain
possibly

That's the one where Optimus Prime died, right?

Ah yes, I remember their stirring battle-cry, "For Autobots and the Union!"

And who can forget the battle hymn of the republic:

YOU'VE GOT THE TOUCH, YOU'VE GOT THE POWER!"

I thought that was at the Battle of Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch

RepoManTSM:

I was kind of hoping the reporters would play along and act like they had cable news in the 19th Century just for shiats and giggles.

You would have liked "History Bites (new window)"

NC liquor stores closed on Saturday. I can't imagine what 9am, or for that matter, 5pm will look like today.

Maxim's machine gun forever changed the face of warfare. Even into the early 20th century standard tactics called for a massed infantry charge.

One thing that is rather odd in the history of warfare (1700-1900's) is how the American soldiers adapted to the combat tactics of the natives, thus being able to cause damage to the British to such a degree. Yet, they dropped that tactic just about every war the USA was in until after WW1.

Learn a bit, forget a bit maybe?

I've never known an infantry charge against a fortified position to have ever won, unless the attackers were in a huge majority to the numbers of the defenders. Or the defenders were totally inept.

Alexander Gardner is not impressed

DysphoricMania: I've never known an infantry charge against a fortified position to have ever won, unless the attackers were in a huge majority to the numbers of the defenders. Or the defenders were totally inept.


You see, Killbots have a preset kill limit. Knowing their weakness, I sent wave after wave of my own men at them, until they reached their limit and shutdown. Kif, show them the medal I won.

/uhhhhh....

Oznog: DysphoricMania: I've never known an infantry charge against a fortified position to have ever won, unless the attackers were in a huge majority to the numbers of the defenders. Or the defenders were totally inept.


You see, Killbots have a preset kill limit. Knowing their weakness, I sent wave after wave of my own men at them, until they reached their limit and shutdown. Kif, show them the medal I won.

/uhhhhh....

LOL!

/keyboard, you owes me!

C'mon, reporters - all the way. Eat the soap!

Did somebody say



?

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
(1828-1914)


Many heroic deeds were done that day, but none greater (IMHO) than Joshua L. Chamberlain's and Col. Strong Vincent's actions on Little Round Top.


I salute you, and thank you for your service to our country.

IExpectAKill: Oh man. I hate the Dollywood that Gettysburg has become.

Become? It's less of a Dollywood than it used to be. No trolley, no casino on Little Round Top, no "National Tower" overwhelming the landscape.

The new Visitor's Center is a little too commercial, but at least they got it off of Cemetery Hill, and the restored Cyclorama looks incredible. The landscape restoration is amazing.

I'll be out on the Battlewalks today. I'm the one in the "Don't Call Me Lawrence!" t-shirt.

Cheeses H Rice: Many heroic deeds were done that day, but none greater (IMHO) than Joshua L. Chamberlain's and Col. Strong Vincent's actions on Little Round Top.

Someone's watched the movie Gettysburg too many times. There were many units that did much more heroic deeds than the 20th Maine.

1st Minnesota for example. Took on a whole brigade by themselves.

lol Cyberpunk, I JUST got that in the mail yesterday too. Bday gift for a civil war buff.

No one wants Gheraldo imbedded on their side... he'll only give their position away.

I hate fat confederate re-enactors.

Awlferd: I hate fat confederate re-enactors.

Hey, I resemble that remark.

Why would you want to reenact that carnage. The first round of killing was bad enough, but then, when the dead rose and started ripping the living limb from limb and eating their flesh.... I do everything I can to forget that hellish day. I wish the Reckoning had never come to this world.

Larry, I'm familiar with the battlefield these days. The on-going reclamation project is amazing, and I heard that recently a local landowner willed his around Big Round Top to the NPS. I spent six hours on foot there this past April, at Warfield Ridge and the farms beyond Devil's Den. I love the place and I'm going back later this month for some garment research in the museum basement.

I think calling Gettysburg "Dollywood" was off on my part; but it does draw a generally "Dollywood-like" crowd. Not everyone in the crowd is a mouth-breather though...I've done interpretive talks and events for years and the people who go to battlefield sites all over the place are usually there to learn.

"Aren't you hot in that uniform?" has turned into "Did fabric and uniforms vary in different regions of the north and south?"

PJ_the_Barbarian: vertiaset: Broadside

vertiaset: Hey Civil War buffs. Is there a single case where an "up the middle" charge by infantry against an enemy of roughly equal force entrenched on the high ground, a la Pickett's Charge or Marye's Heights at Fredricksburg actually prevailed? I ask because for the life of me I can't figure out why it was attempted so many times in that war.

Are you referring to the American Civil War, 19th Century conflicts, or just war in general?

Post Napoleon, in the rifled musket era, mid to late 19th century.

My (admittedly amateur) understanding has been that tactics hadn't adapted to changes in military technology quite yet, which set the stage for many of the bloodbaths of the civil war.

No one could put it any plainer than Shelby Foote: 'The weapons are ahead of the tactics'. The close ranks being a necessity because of the limitations of the smooth-bore musket.

Even with the advance of the rifled musket, the officers believed that the old-fashioned drill formations were still useful to insure a massing of continuous firepower that the individual soldier could not sustain.

Will he be on the scene, broadcasting giving away Union troop movements?