Strategy and the Civil War

1 Credit · Level: Undergraduate

Part Of Term (P.O.T.) Seminar--Last day to Drop: TBA; Last day to Withdraw: TBA; -Meeting Dates: Tuesday 9/22/20: 6:30-8:30; Tuesday 9/29/20: 6:30-8:30; Saturday 10/03/20: 9:00-5:00; Tuesday 10/06/20 6:30-8:30; Most Americans are fascinated by the battle of Gettysburg, and those who aren’t should be. It was in many ways the defining battle of the defining war of American history. Had Lee won, the United States might well have ceased to exist a mere “four score and seven years” after it was born. And if his defeat at Gettysburg didn’t bring the war to an end, it powerfully shaped the remaining months of the struggle. Meanwhile, questions about the wisdom of invading the North and running the battle as Lee did fascinate students of strategy and military art. Lee’s presence at Gettysburg late in June of 1863 was the expression of a strategy for winning that was neither shared nor entirely supported by his Confederate colleagues in Richmond. His defeat was in part the result of technological forces that were reshaping war in ways that some argue doomed his effort even before it began. Culminating in a day-long tour of battlefield, this short course will place the battle of Gettysburg in the broader context of, first, the South’s strategic debate, and, second, the broader technological and social forces shaping war in the mid-19th Century. The tour itself will highlight timeless themes of warfare – the importance of intelligence and terrain, the limits of command and control, the changing balance between fire and maneuver. On the ride back from Gettysburg we will discuss the outcome of the battle and the war as a whole, addressing questions about strategic goals achieved or left unfulfilled.