For those of you who, a month or two ago, were following The Gentlemen of Virginia, you were probably wondering just when it was going to move forward faster than 3 posts per OTL day. This was despite the fact that I actually most of the TL planned up through May 1864 (and many many hand-drawn maps). I realized that I could not continue the pace of my summer writing output during the school year, and finally abandoned the in-depth posts. They may resurface one day, such as next summer. Failing that, however, I may as well re-vamp the TL into more conventional posts.
This thread is asking: “What is the latest single, reasonable, POD that gets the OTL CSA their independence?” For example, a double-pod, like North Anna + Peachtree Creek, might see an endurance victory. But IMO, the major problem with pods based on a Democrat winning the 1864 elections is that, by the time they are inaugurated, the south is so close to being destroyed anyway that the candidate has no choice but to follow through with the war. So a successful pod must see the March 4th 1865 south holding, at minimum, Atlanta, and hopefully with some additional large battlefield victories.
My answer for the latest single POD is August 22nd, 1863. This is after Gettysburg and Vicksburg, and the point of my specific TL, both the original and this re-vamped, is to prove that the south can still win after these setbacks. All it takes is some tweaking of events in the west…..
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No Better Place to Die…Twice
August 22nd, 1863: A stray cannonball wounds General Braxton Bragg while he is observing the Union advance force near Chattanooga. This wound brings Bragg into and out of consciousness for many weeks, and incidental command falls to General Leonidas Polk (for details, see The Gentlemen of Virginia).
September 5th: President Davis appoints Lee to command the Army of Tennessee. He really has no choice. Bragg is wounded and out of the picture, Polk…no matter how good friends they are, Davis recognizes his limits. D. H. Hill is junior in rank to both of them and only competent. Davis has a personal vendetta against Johnston and Beauregard. The army would never accept Pemberton.
Lee agrees to go. He takes Ewell’s corps, so he may more closely watch his inexperienced subordinate. Longstreet takes command of the Army of Northern Virginia, with Anderson taking over the Ist corps.
September 6th-19th: the important events are OTL (for details, see Gentlemen). One exception is that Cleburne does not launch the 19th night attack, because Lee arrives just in time to stop it. This saves some thousand lives for the next day.
September 20th: Day 2 of the Battle of Chickamauga. A disaster for the Union. 20,000 Confederate casualties, but 18,000 Union AND 17,000 captured, including General Sheridan and his division, General Davis and his division, and General Granger and a large part of the reserve corps (again, see Gentlemen for details).
The bright spots: Thomas performed to such a heroic degree that OTL looks ordinary in comparison – a single line doubling back on itself on both flanks, with no reserve, limited ammunition, and Lee pressing the attack, in addition to all OTL sides, strongly from the north. Thomas receives a minor wound, adding to the perceived heroism. The Union army retreats at nightfall.
One other bright spot: General Wilder and his cavalry perform extremely well, almost saving Sheridan’s division, and prove the value of the Spencer 7-shot repeater carbine.
September 21st: Encouraged by Forrest, Lee pursuits the retreating Union army. A rear-guard stand near Rossville checks the pursuit for a while. However, Lee immediately occupies Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and also sends 2 divisions to block Brown’s Ferry. He does not cross the Tennessee River, due to lack of pontoons, but the Union army is in a state of siege.
September-October: The Union army suffers. Half-rations and autumn rains, similar to OTL. Lee does not relieve Forrest in favor of Wheeler (because he actually gets along with most of his fellow high command). This leads to Forrest launching the great October raid instead of Wheeler, and it is marginally more successful. As a counter, Thomas (Grant was named overall commander, and he in turn ousted Rosecrans and appointed Thomas) promotes Wilder to command the Union cavalry, although it yields no immediate benefit.
Lee sends to Virginia for Ewell’s wagon train and artillery soon after the battle, and it arrives by early October. He inquires of President Davis how specifically he can be of use in the west. Davis emphatically recommends re-taking Knoxville, then held by Burnside (well, no one ever said Davis was a military genius). Lee sees the need but questions the timing, yet ultimately takes it as an order.
Late in October, Lee dispatches Buckner’s corps and Ewell’s corps (with wagon train) for that purpose, with Buckner commanding, as he knows the ground. He still barely outnumbers Thomas’ army, but will not for much longer as Hooker, commanding 3 divisions from the Army of the Potomac (Howard’s XIth corps + Geary’s division of the XIIth corps), and Sherman, commanding 4 divisions of the Army of the Tennessee (XVth and XVIIth corps) are en route (this is exactly the reinforcements of OTL, btw).
Lee’s plan is for Buckner to destroy Burnside through sheer force of numbers (the 5 Confederate divisions outnumber Burnside at least 2:1), and then send most or all of the Confederate force back to Chattanooga before Grant can organize an attack.
Meanwhile, in Virginia, Meade was temporarily emboldened by Lee’s absence, but this was countered by his own dispatch of reinforcements to the west. The Bristoe campaign has been butterflied into a big mess, but Longstreet holds his own defensively, and neither General can secure a major battlefield victory. Longstreet sets the AoNV to work digging trenches all across the landscape, and the net effect is close enough to OTL (with the exception that Hood does not lose his leg – he recuperates for a nice long time, still with a useless arm, but remains active in the field in the east).
October 27th: Grant sets in motion a night operation to re-open Brown’s Ferry by stealth – 2 brigades floating downriver in fifty canoes, and attacking at night. The surprise is complete, and the assault is initially successful, but Lee had made sure to keep the 2 divisions there (unlike OTL Bragg), and ultimately the Union brigades are forced back. The Cracker line is not open yet.
October 29th: Now Hooker arrives from the west. Outnumbered and hit from two sides, the Confederate commander (Walker) retreats to Lookout Mountain, but in good order. He meanwhile is retiring to prepared entrenchments, with batteries along the river proper, and a line for 2 divisions to hold. Lookout Mountain is thus held by 2-3x more men than OTL, and with a well-defined chain of command.
The Cracker line is finally opened, but Lee shows no sign of retreating. Grant wants to wait for the arrival of Sherman before launching a major attack of his own.
November 14th: In pitched battle near Knoxville, Buckner swamps Burnside. He launched a double-envelopment, and even though Ewell failed to engage on time, the assault was quite successful. Burnside had about 15,000 men in line, with 5,000 more en route. Half his force is captured, the rest suffers grievous casualties, and retreats to the northwest. Buckner takes Knoxville easily, but he is disgusted with Ewell by this time, who has proven exceedingly cautious, and defers too often to Early and members of his staff.
November 15th: Sherman arrives in camp. His army is strung out for many days behind him, and the rains are making the roads very bad. Grant finally plans his assault, which calls for Sherman to overwhelm Lee’s right flank, near Tunnel Hill. As a diversion, Hooker will take his force and one of Sherman’s divisions and assault Lookout Mountain. As a diversion to the diversion, Thomas will hold the Army of the Cumberland in readiness to assault straight up Missionary Ridge.
The AotC has been re-organized into 2 corps of 3 divisions each. The IVth corps is commanded by Palmer, and is the remnants of the XXIst and XXIInd corps. The XIVth corps is now commanded by Reynolds. Brannan has the artillery, and Wilder the cavalry.
Lee hears of the Knoxville victory, and orders Ewell’s corps to now countermarch back to Chattanooga as rapidly as possible. This move will take some time. However, Buckner alone has plenty enough men to stay on the defensive near Knoxville and hold the RR.
November 23rd: Sherman’s men are still marching into position. Grant orders Thomas to take Orchard’s Knob as a diversion and staging ground. The attack is swift, unexpected, and successful.
Lee, hearing that Ewell’s men are still two days away, re-doubles efforts to fortify both Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. While riding the line, upon seeing the fortification of the highest crest of the ridge, Lee countermands this and orders works dug at the military crest.
November 24th: Sherman begins probing Tunnel Hill. This is commanded by Cleburne’s division, the best troops the AoT has. He turns aside the probes with relative ease. Sherman’s whole command, meanwhile, crosses the Tennessee River on pontoons and camps in front of the Hill.
On the other flank, Hooker’s attack showed initial promise, but the Confederate defense is stout. Lee takes a risky gamble and weakens his center even more, to send a 3rd division (Hindman) to Lookout Mountain. With this force, Walker is easily able to hold the position, and Hooker and his men are isolated from the rest of the Union Army.
Thomas’s probes in the center were pushed back, but then, they were only probes. Lee worries greatly about a determined head-on attack, and prays for the fast marching of Ewell, now a day away.
November 25th: Hooker is standing down, so he and Walker have a relatively uneventful day. Lucky them.
Sherman begins launching larger attacks. Cleburne has the good ground, with cannons in place, and throughout the morning parries Sherman’s assaults with relative ease.
Now Grant turns to Thomas, and orders him to launch a diversionary assault in the middle. Neither one of them expects it to work, but Thomas obeys with precision, sending 4 divisions in the first wave and 2 behind them.
As ordered, they carry the rifle pits at the base of Missionary Ridge easily enough. Musketry and artillery rain down on the Cumberlanders. It would be shameful to withdraw, but certain death to stay where they were. Without orders, the line begins charging up the hill. Grant and Thomas are stunned.
The surging Union line carries the second line of pits up the Ridge, leaving only the main line at the top. This line is properly manned and sited, and allows the Confederates to fire without exposing themselves unduly. However, at the point of impact the Union mass has weight of numbers, and the Confederate line, in places, begins to waver.
Thomas is watching. He sees that, against all odds, his men may carry the fight. He also sees that it is not an instant breakthrough – the fire is very hot. He asks, and Grant gives him permission to, ride to the front. He gallops up the ridge, in time to direct the second line.
Lee is standing on the ridge, uncomfortably near the fight. He too rides forward, and as men beg him to retire, they fight on for a bit longer. But Thomas has the numbers, and even this last line begins to break. Lee just stands there, in silent prayer, as the union line races forward.
And then from behind, charging at the double-quick, comes Gordon’s brigade of Early’s division, the vanguard of Ewell’s corps. Gordon pitches into the fight, and some of his men try to physically drag Lee off the field. Lee directs all of Early’s and Rode’s divisions towards the fight, and would do so of Johnson’s 3rd division as well, but he is in the rear and out of communication.
Thomas sees these reinforcements arrive. He in turn directs the second line towards the center of the fighting, and everything escalates in a wild maelstrom. At the peak of everything, Thomas is wounded again, this time much more seriously than at Chickamauga. He begs his men to hold fast as he loses consciousness, and is carried down the ridge.
What both Lee and Thomas have failed to realize, them being in the thick of things in the middle, is that the Confederates are successfully flanking both sides of Thomas’ advance. Elements of Cheatham’s division from the south are advancing, seeing as Thomas’ right flank is in the air. From the north comes a brigade of Breckenridge’s division, leaving a hole between him and Cleburne, but in the confusion it goes unexploited. As the fighting grinds on in the middle of the Missionary Ridge line, the Confederates are coming close to surrounding Thomas’ entire force.
His division commanders see this just in time, and since Lee is getting ever-more reinforcements in front, they retreat. It is relatively orderly, but Lee’s men are pursuing vigorously. The Cumberlanders retire to Orchard Knob and beyond.
Lee, still staying on top of the ridge, now sees a great opportunity. He directs Johnson’s division, last of Ewell’s arrivals, to not march to the ridge, but to stop just east of the bridge over Chickamauga Creek. There he should march north.
Ewell finally arrives, and tries to interfere with the movement. Lee, having seen Ewell perform with mediocrity at Gettysburg, worse at Chickamauga, and total mind-blowing cautiousness at Knoxville, relieves him on the spot. For the duration of the battle Ewell’s 3 division report to Lee directly.
Johnson’s men march north and then west along the north bank of Chickamauga creek. They encounter and overwhelm a small guard left by Sherman and then, using Sherman’s own pontoon bridge, cross over Chickamauga Creek in Sherman’s rear. By doing so, they also block the main pontoon bridge over the Tennessee River. Meanwhile, Rodes and Early, leading the Confederate attack down from Missionary Ridge, turn northwest before reaching Orchard’s Knob, and anchor their far flank on the Tennessee River.
Sherman now is trapped. To his west lies the Tennessee River, un-fordable and with his one bridge in enemy hands. To the north lies Chickamauga Creek, similarly un-crossable, and with more and more men of Johnson’s large division pouring across. To the east is Tunnel Hill, and the solid defenses of Cleburne’s division. To the south is the wide masses of Early and Rodes, with Breckenridge providing close support. Cheatham alone is enough to contain the twice-beaten elements of the Army of the Cumberland to the southwest.
Fighting lasts through the day, and the Confederates suffer very heavy casualties. But one other advantage for them is that their artillery on Tunnel hill dominates the ground.
By nightfall, at the expense of possibly 10,000 men, Lee has captured General Sherman and his army of 20,000.
Now this might be enough of a TL to comment on. I will update soon.
This thread is asking: “What is the latest single, reasonable, POD that gets the OTL CSA their independence?” For example, a double-pod, like North Anna + Peachtree Creek, might see an endurance victory. But IMO, the major problem with pods based on a Democrat winning the 1864 elections is that, by the time they are inaugurated, the south is so close to being destroyed anyway that the candidate has no choice but to follow through with the war. So a successful pod must see the March 4th 1865 south holding, at minimum, Atlanta, and hopefully with some additional large battlefield victories.
My answer for the latest single POD is August 22nd, 1863. This is after Gettysburg and Vicksburg, and the point of my specific TL, both the original and this re-vamped, is to prove that the south can still win after these setbacks. All it takes is some tweaking of events in the west…..
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No Better Place to Die…Twice
August 22nd, 1863: A stray cannonball wounds General Braxton Bragg while he is observing the Union advance force near Chattanooga. This wound brings Bragg into and out of consciousness for many weeks, and incidental command falls to General Leonidas Polk (for details, see The Gentlemen of Virginia).
September 5th: President Davis appoints Lee to command the Army of Tennessee. He really has no choice. Bragg is wounded and out of the picture, Polk…no matter how good friends they are, Davis recognizes his limits. D. H. Hill is junior in rank to both of them and only competent. Davis has a personal vendetta against Johnston and Beauregard. The army would never accept Pemberton.
Lee agrees to go. He takes Ewell’s corps, so he may more closely watch his inexperienced subordinate. Longstreet takes command of the Army of Northern Virginia, with Anderson taking over the Ist corps.
September 6th-19th: the important events are OTL (for details, see Gentlemen). One exception is that Cleburne does not launch the 19th night attack, because Lee arrives just in time to stop it. This saves some thousand lives for the next day.
September 20th: Day 2 of the Battle of Chickamauga. A disaster for the Union. 20,000 Confederate casualties, but 18,000 Union AND 17,000 captured, including General Sheridan and his division, General Davis and his division, and General Granger and a large part of the reserve corps (again, see Gentlemen for details).
The bright spots: Thomas performed to such a heroic degree that OTL looks ordinary in comparison – a single line doubling back on itself on both flanks, with no reserve, limited ammunition, and Lee pressing the attack, in addition to all OTL sides, strongly from the north. Thomas receives a minor wound, adding to the perceived heroism. The Union army retreats at nightfall.
One other bright spot: General Wilder and his cavalry perform extremely well, almost saving Sheridan’s division, and prove the value of the Spencer 7-shot repeater carbine.
September 21st: Encouraged by Forrest, Lee pursuits the retreating Union army. A rear-guard stand near Rossville checks the pursuit for a while. However, Lee immediately occupies Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and also sends 2 divisions to block Brown’s Ferry. He does not cross the Tennessee River, due to lack of pontoons, but the Union army is in a state of siege.
September-October: The Union army suffers. Half-rations and autumn rains, similar to OTL. Lee does not relieve Forrest in favor of Wheeler (because he actually gets along with most of his fellow high command). This leads to Forrest launching the great October raid instead of Wheeler, and it is marginally more successful. As a counter, Thomas (Grant was named overall commander, and he in turn ousted Rosecrans and appointed Thomas) promotes Wilder to command the Union cavalry, although it yields no immediate benefit.
Lee sends to Virginia for Ewell’s wagon train and artillery soon after the battle, and it arrives by early October. He inquires of President Davis how specifically he can be of use in the west. Davis emphatically recommends re-taking Knoxville, then held by Burnside (well, no one ever said Davis was a military genius). Lee sees the need but questions the timing, yet ultimately takes it as an order.
Late in October, Lee dispatches Buckner’s corps and Ewell’s corps (with wagon train) for that purpose, with Buckner commanding, as he knows the ground. He still barely outnumbers Thomas’ army, but will not for much longer as Hooker, commanding 3 divisions from the Army of the Potomac (Howard’s XIth corps + Geary’s division of the XIIth corps), and Sherman, commanding 4 divisions of the Army of the Tennessee (XVth and XVIIth corps) are en route (this is exactly the reinforcements of OTL, btw).
Lee’s plan is for Buckner to destroy Burnside through sheer force of numbers (the 5 Confederate divisions outnumber Burnside at least 2:1), and then send most or all of the Confederate force back to Chattanooga before Grant can organize an attack.
Meanwhile, in Virginia, Meade was temporarily emboldened by Lee’s absence, but this was countered by his own dispatch of reinforcements to the west. The Bristoe campaign has been butterflied into a big mess, but Longstreet holds his own defensively, and neither General can secure a major battlefield victory. Longstreet sets the AoNV to work digging trenches all across the landscape, and the net effect is close enough to OTL (with the exception that Hood does not lose his leg – he recuperates for a nice long time, still with a useless arm, but remains active in the field in the east).
October 27th: Grant sets in motion a night operation to re-open Brown’s Ferry by stealth – 2 brigades floating downriver in fifty canoes, and attacking at night. The surprise is complete, and the assault is initially successful, but Lee had made sure to keep the 2 divisions there (unlike OTL Bragg), and ultimately the Union brigades are forced back. The Cracker line is not open yet.
October 29th: Now Hooker arrives from the west. Outnumbered and hit from two sides, the Confederate commander (Walker) retreats to Lookout Mountain, but in good order. He meanwhile is retiring to prepared entrenchments, with batteries along the river proper, and a line for 2 divisions to hold. Lookout Mountain is thus held by 2-3x more men than OTL, and with a well-defined chain of command.
The Cracker line is finally opened, but Lee shows no sign of retreating. Grant wants to wait for the arrival of Sherman before launching a major attack of his own.
November 14th: In pitched battle near Knoxville, Buckner swamps Burnside. He launched a double-envelopment, and even though Ewell failed to engage on time, the assault was quite successful. Burnside had about 15,000 men in line, with 5,000 more en route. Half his force is captured, the rest suffers grievous casualties, and retreats to the northwest. Buckner takes Knoxville easily, but he is disgusted with Ewell by this time, who has proven exceedingly cautious, and defers too often to Early and members of his staff.
November 15th: Sherman arrives in camp. His army is strung out for many days behind him, and the rains are making the roads very bad. Grant finally plans his assault, which calls for Sherman to overwhelm Lee’s right flank, near Tunnel Hill. As a diversion, Hooker will take his force and one of Sherman’s divisions and assault Lookout Mountain. As a diversion to the diversion, Thomas will hold the Army of the Cumberland in readiness to assault straight up Missionary Ridge.
The AotC has been re-organized into 2 corps of 3 divisions each. The IVth corps is commanded by Palmer, and is the remnants of the XXIst and XXIInd corps. The XIVth corps is now commanded by Reynolds. Brannan has the artillery, and Wilder the cavalry.
Lee hears of the Knoxville victory, and orders Ewell’s corps to now countermarch back to Chattanooga as rapidly as possible. This move will take some time. However, Buckner alone has plenty enough men to stay on the defensive near Knoxville and hold the RR.
November 23rd: Sherman’s men are still marching into position. Grant orders Thomas to take Orchard’s Knob as a diversion and staging ground. The attack is swift, unexpected, and successful.
Lee, hearing that Ewell’s men are still two days away, re-doubles efforts to fortify both Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. While riding the line, upon seeing the fortification of the highest crest of the ridge, Lee countermands this and orders works dug at the military crest.
November 24th: Sherman begins probing Tunnel Hill. This is commanded by Cleburne’s division, the best troops the AoT has. He turns aside the probes with relative ease. Sherman’s whole command, meanwhile, crosses the Tennessee River on pontoons and camps in front of the Hill.
On the other flank, Hooker’s attack showed initial promise, but the Confederate defense is stout. Lee takes a risky gamble and weakens his center even more, to send a 3rd division (Hindman) to Lookout Mountain. With this force, Walker is easily able to hold the position, and Hooker and his men are isolated from the rest of the Union Army.
Thomas’s probes in the center were pushed back, but then, they were only probes. Lee worries greatly about a determined head-on attack, and prays for the fast marching of Ewell, now a day away.
November 25th: Hooker is standing down, so he and Walker have a relatively uneventful day. Lucky them.
Sherman begins launching larger attacks. Cleburne has the good ground, with cannons in place, and throughout the morning parries Sherman’s assaults with relative ease.
Now Grant turns to Thomas, and orders him to launch a diversionary assault in the middle. Neither one of them expects it to work, but Thomas obeys with precision, sending 4 divisions in the first wave and 2 behind them.
As ordered, they carry the rifle pits at the base of Missionary Ridge easily enough. Musketry and artillery rain down on the Cumberlanders. It would be shameful to withdraw, but certain death to stay where they were. Without orders, the line begins charging up the hill. Grant and Thomas are stunned.
The surging Union line carries the second line of pits up the Ridge, leaving only the main line at the top. This line is properly manned and sited, and allows the Confederates to fire without exposing themselves unduly. However, at the point of impact the Union mass has weight of numbers, and the Confederate line, in places, begins to waver.
Thomas is watching. He sees that, against all odds, his men may carry the fight. He also sees that it is not an instant breakthrough – the fire is very hot. He asks, and Grant gives him permission to, ride to the front. He gallops up the ridge, in time to direct the second line.
Lee is standing on the ridge, uncomfortably near the fight. He too rides forward, and as men beg him to retire, they fight on for a bit longer. But Thomas has the numbers, and even this last line begins to break. Lee just stands there, in silent prayer, as the union line races forward.
And then from behind, charging at the double-quick, comes Gordon’s brigade of Early’s division, the vanguard of Ewell’s corps. Gordon pitches into the fight, and some of his men try to physically drag Lee off the field. Lee directs all of Early’s and Rode’s divisions towards the fight, and would do so of Johnson’s 3rd division as well, but he is in the rear and out of communication.
Thomas sees these reinforcements arrive. He in turn directs the second line towards the center of the fighting, and everything escalates in a wild maelstrom. At the peak of everything, Thomas is wounded again, this time much more seriously than at Chickamauga. He begs his men to hold fast as he loses consciousness, and is carried down the ridge.
What both Lee and Thomas have failed to realize, them being in the thick of things in the middle, is that the Confederates are successfully flanking both sides of Thomas’ advance. Elements of Cheatham’s division from the south are advancing, seeing as Thomas’ right flank is in the air. From the north comes a brigade of Breckenridge’s division, leaving a hole between him and Cleburne, but in the confusion it goes unexploited. As the fighting grinds on in the middle of the Missionary Ridge line, the Confederates are coming close to surrounding Thomas’ entire force.
His division commanders see this just in time, and since Lee is getting ever-more reinforcements in front, they retreat. It is relatively orderly, but Lee’s men are pursuing vigorously. The Cumberlanders retire to Orchard Knob and beyond.
Lee, still staying on top of the ridge, now sees a great opportunity. He directs Johnson’s division, last of Ewell’s arrivals, to not march to the ridge, but to stop just east of the bridge over Chickamauga Creek. There he should march north.
Ewell finally arrives, and tries to interfere with the movement. Lee, having seen Ewell perform with mediocrity at Gettysburg, worse at Chickamauga, and total mind-blowing cautiousness at Knoxville, relieves him on the spot. For the duration of the battle Ewell’s 3 division report to Lee directly.
Johnson’s men march north and then west along the north bank of Chickamauga creek. They encounter and overwhelm a small guard left by Sherman and then, using Sherman’s own pontoon bridge, cross over Chickamauga Creek in Sherman’s rear. By doing so, they also block the main pontoon bridge over the Tennessee River. Meanwhile, Rodes and Early, leading the Confederate attack down from Missionary Ridge, turn northwest before reaching Orchard’s Knob, and anchor their far flank on the Tennessee River.
Sherman now is trapped. To his west lies the Tennessee River, un-fordable and with his one bridge in enemy hands. To the north lies Chickamauga Creek, similarly un-crossable, and with more and more men of Johnson’s large division pouring across. To the east is Tunnel Hill, and the solid defenses of Cleburne’s division. To the south is the wide masses of Early and Rodes, with Breckenridge providing close support. Cheatham alone is enough to contain the twice-beaten elements of the Army of the Cumberland to the southwest.
Fighting lasts through the day, and the Confederates suffer very heavy casualties. But one other advantage for them is that their artillery on Tunnel hill dominates the ground.
By nightfall, at the expense of possibly 10,000 men, Lee has captured General Sherman and his army of 20,000.
Now this might be enough of a TL to comment on. I will update soon.