A fresh view of an old battle in a war that's still not really over.
A Cutting-Edge Second Look at the Battle of Gettysburg, (Smithsonian.org)
The technological limits of
surveillance during the American Civil War dictated that commanders
often decided where to deploy their troops based largely on what they
could see. We know that Confederate general Robert E. Lee was virtually
blind at Gettysburg, as his formerly brilliant cavalry leader J.E.B.
Stuart failed to inform him of Federal positions, and Confederate
scouts’ reconnaissance was poor. The Confederates’ field positions,
generally on lower ground than Yankee positions, further put Lee at a
disadvantage. A striking contrast in visual perception came when Union
Gen. Gouvernour K. Warren spotted Confederate troops from Little Round
Top and called in reinforcements just in time to save the Federal line.
What more might we learn about this famous battle if we put ourselves in commanders’ shoes, using today’s digital technology to visualize the battlefield and see what they could see?
