Type a new keyword(s) and press Enter to search

Major General Henry Heth in the Battle of Gettysburg

 

This showed when he was moving his division out from Cashtown and this is what caused the brigades attack the Army of the Potomac at Gettysburg. .
             When Heth's division came into contact with the union forces before he rallied all of his force together be began to deploy brigades to fight the Union soldiers positioned in the city. These soldier took heavy casualties and the Union soldiers were receiving reinforcements. After Heth's first attack failed and was pushed back he sent more two brigades who were successful in pushing the Union soldiers out to Seminary Ridge. Heth then conducted a third attack on the Union forces along with Major General Rode's which further pushed the Union back to Cemetery Hill. However during this attack the Confederates suffered heavy losses mainly because of Heth's aggressive nature and his poor decision to not waiting to join with other forces against the Union. During the attack that pushed the Union back to Cemetery Ridge Heth sustained a non-fatal shot in the head and was knocked out and removed from the battle. The reason behind the injury was because his hat was too big for his head and the paper that he put in the hat to help it fit altered the path of the round. Parts of his division fell under the command of Brigadier General Pettigrew. Heth recovered and took back his command in the fall of 1863. .
             We can apply the mistakes that Major General Heth made while commanding the Third Division during Gettysburg. First thing is that you need to follow the commander's intent. General Lee told his subordinates that they should not engage the Union forces until his entire force was ready. Heth completely ignored this and in the end it caused the Confederacy to not be prepared to fight at full strength over the next three days. Working with the units to your left and right. Heth chose to charge in with his division and not work in sync with the other divisions that were on the line with him.


Essays Related to Major General Henry Heth in the Battle of Gettysburg