Devil's Den & Little Round Top: Then & Now
In 2010, the Civil War Trust saved a 2 acre section of the Gettysburg batlefield - ground that is closely associated with Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's attack on the Union left on July 2, 1863. To learn more about this pivotal attack and the state of the battlefield today, the Trust turned to "Second Day" experts Garry Adelman and Tim Smith.
Civil War Trust: Much has been made about the fractious disagreement that James Longstreet and Robert E. Lee had about the offensive opportunities on July 2, 1863. What fueled this disagreement and did it have any material impact on the fighting to come that day?
Garry Adelman: Lee and Longstreet fundamentally disagreed about what was the best course of action after the battle of July 1. Longstreet still labored under the impression that the entire campaign was to be fought as a “tactical defensive†while Lee, given the Confederate success on the First Day, felt that the “aggressive†was in order. Longstreet suggested a very wide movement around the Union army to interpose the Confederates between Meade’s Yankees and Washington, and later proposed a tighter movement around the Union Army. One of Longstreet’s subordinates, John Bell Hood, favored a still tighter movement around the enemy left—one that would take his division of 7,000 men behind Little Round Top and into the Union rear.
https://www.civilwar.org/learn/articles/devils-den-little-round-top-then-now
