Month: July 2013

On whether Lincoln ordered an attack on the retreating Lee

Guest post by Michael Burlingame When news reached Washington that Lee was defeated and withdrawing from Gettysburg, Lincoln believed that General George G. Meade could deliver the coup de grâce to the Army of Northern Virginia before it escaped across the Potomac. According to presidential secretary John Hay, Lincoln “watched the progress of the Army…

On whether Lincoln ordered an attack on the retreating Lee

Guest post by Michael Burlingame When news reached Washington that Lee was defeated and withdrawing from Gettysburg, Lincoln believed that General George G. Meade could deliver the coup de grâce to the Army of Northern Virginia before it escaped across the Potomac. According to presidential secretary John Hay, Lincoln “watched the progress of the Army…

The underlying truth in a staged image by a Gettysburg photographer

Guest post by Ronald S. Coddington It is an undeniable fact that Alexander Gardner staged “Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter,” one of the best-known photographs of Gettysburg. The brilliant pioneer photojournalist is responsible for misleading us into believing that a Confederate sharpshooter was mortally wounded, and, moreover, that the fatally injured rebel calmly placed his…