Why did Longstreet not want to go through with Lee's plan at Gettysburg?

Answer 1

He thought that the BARTLE DOG BOILER was too strong.

NEW RESPONDENT

Longstreet did not believe in the possibility of a successful attack against the center of Federal line on the Cemetery Ridge.

Nobody, in his opinion, could frontally break through the enemy lines , under the terrible fire of rifled arms, because the outcome would have been a second Malvern Hill or, better said, a second but reversed Fredericksburg .

Answer 2

By that time, two years into the war, the fruitlessness and costliness of frontal attacks on troops in a strong position had been amply demonstrated, at tremendous cost in blood. Five times out of six such attacks failed. Lee actually only tried this once or twice in the entire war, once at Malvern Hill in 1862, and again if you count "Pickett's Charge". What's little understood today is what Lee's actual plan was for that day. He had sent a large mass of cavalry under Jeb Stuart, 6,000 troopers, on a long circuitous route around to the north of the town of Gettysburg, who were supposed to circle back in and hit the Yankee position from the rear as Pickett's infantry came on in front. The combination of Pickett's 15,000 and the surprise and demoralizing sudden appearance of 6,000 troopers shooting and hacking with sabers from the rear might well have broken the Yankee line, considering that the cavalry never arrived and the infantry, with the entire defense concentrating on them, still managed to reach and breach temporarily the Union line in a few places. Stuart and his troopers were stopped, by Custer of all people, in an engagement fought at East Cavalry Field, preserved today as part of the Battlefield Park, several miles east of town. Lee never made a big deal over this, as he took responsibility for whatever happened and did not think controversy would help the cause, or that commanders should publicly point out the failures of subordinates. Whether Longstreet actually remonstrated with Lee over the attack is uncertain. When he wrote his book in 1904 Longstreet claimed he did. But by that time he had been stung by years of accusations that he had been "late" on the second day of the Battle (the day before Pickett's charge), and that this had cost the Confederates victory in the Battle and thus he had also lost the war that day. This baseless charge was made by those who had themselves fumbled the opportunity to win a complete victory on the first day, by driving the disorganized and demoralized Yankees from Cemetery Hill, where they had just run to take shelter from the shellacking the Rebels had given them that day. The attacks on Longstreet's reputation had hurt, and were motivated by his post-war renewal of his prewar friendship with Ulysses Grant, his acceptance of government jobs from Republican administrations, and worst of all, becoming a Republican himself. All this may have colored Longstreet's recollections of what was actually said on that Pennsylvania hill forty years before he wrote. The attacks on his character were so successful that in the entire south there is no statue of Longstreet, the man Lee called "my old war horse", who commanded the First Corp of Lee's Army, which was always twice the size of the Second Corps commanded by Stonewall Jackson.

Answer 3

On day one of the Battle of Gettysburg, General lee conferred with one of his most reliable generals, James Longstreet. They met on Seminary Ridge just opposite of the enemy. Longstreet's advise was sound. He advised Lee to move our forces via quick maneuver and place the Southern army between Washington DC, and the Army of the Potomac. This would force Meade to attack and the battle would then be in a place of Lee's choosing and be a tactical defensive one to the South's advantage.Lee thoughtfully disagreed and decided to take the early opportunity of attacking Meade first.

Answer 4

He realized the Union position was too strong against a frontal attack.