Confederates array for attack as cannonade precedes epic charge
...This key event should really be called Longstreet's Assault. After the
Confederate defeats on July 2nd, it is Robert E. Lee's idea to push his center
forward against the Union center, hoping to amass enough firepower at the Union
center to break through and expand the gap in the line, thereby cutting the Union
battle line in half. Lee gives that order to James Longstreet, who commands a
third of Lee's army and is Lee's most trusted lieutenant�especially after the
death of Stonewall Jackson in May of 1863. It is Longstreet who puts this plan
together. He places 13,000 men in battle line to assault the Union center. He
also arranges for 152 Confederate cannons to fire at the Union center and weaken
it prior to the Confederate assault...
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