He paused, lowering his head, attention again fixed on the map;
"That is why we are here," he whispered. "It's not to seek a half victory; it is to end this war now."
He nodded toward the open window racing the Carlisle Road.
"Those boys out there, they are not immortal. They are mere flesh and blood. They have trusted us with their lives; and we, gentlemen, God save us, are empowered to trade those lives for what we believe in. I will not trade one more life for half a goal, half a victory that simply leads to defeat.
"Realize this. We have but one good fight left in us. We lost fifteen thousand men at Chancellorsville." He hesitated, "And we lost Jackson… then we let them get away. We cannot afford one more battle like that That is why I want it to end here, today."
"General, today we lost eight thousand men," Longstreet said softly, voice calm, almost like a distant echo.
"God save us, I know."
"And taking those hills south of town, we'll lose eight thousand more."
Lee looked up at him.
"Don't you mink I know that as well? Our goal is their army, to defeat it to finish it and there will be a bloody price in the doing of it"
"We fought a good fight here today," Longstreet replied, "but the final price, sir, that last charge negated our gains."
"We smashed two of their corps," Lee replied sharply, and then hesitated. 'They also lost John Reynolds, one of their best"
"A good man, John." Hill sighed, the first words that had escaped him.
'They checked us though, sir," Pete continued, pushing in. "The last assault…"
His words trailed off. Lee knew. Pete was always talking about the defensive, of letting them attack.
"That hill, sir," Longstreet finally continued, "I couldn't have picked better ground. Sir, you spoke against just such an assault only this morning up at Cashtown, and yet we nevertheless charged into such a position just before sundown."
Lee nodded, looking at Longstreet. Yes, that was true. That morning seemed like an age ago. Yes, the land before Cashtown was indeed the same. He nodded for Pete to continue.
"I came to agree with you there, sir, back at the base of the South Mountains. Yes, we do need to seek the final battle, but what happened here this evening ended that chance for this battlefield. Sir, the Union army is concentrated here. We try to flank to that hill south of town here, and in an hour they can shift an entire corps to it, and we are faced with the same problem yet again…"
Lee started to speak, to point to the two hills south of town; but as he looked at Pete, he fell silent
Jackson is gone, he realized yet again. I always listened to Jackson, trusted him; even when he foiled before Richmond, I still listened. If this were Jackson before me, offering an objection to a plan, I would listen. I must realize that; otherwise why have commanders who can think? I know now I must take more direct control of this army. His gaze drifted to Hill, then to Ewell, then finally back to Longstreet Longstreet is now my right arm more than any other.
"Go ahead, General Longstreet"
"You were focused on that hill, that cemetery. We all were. It was so damn close. We just had to get to the other side, and we thought we could win. Sir, I, too, was caught by it I saw the tail end of the assault and for a moment I believed we would take it; then their guns, sir, their guns just shredded our lines. And, sir, those guns will still be there tomorrow morning, dug in deeper and resupplied."
Lee nodded slowly. "But I must ask, sir, what is on the other side of that hill?"
Longstreet looked over at Stuart and then to Jed Hotchkiss. "They have two lines of retreat from the far side of that hill" and as he spoke Longstreet traced out the roads back to Westminster and Taneytown. "Sir, it would have been yet another partial victory. Some, perhaps most, of the Yankees would have gotten out along those two roads. And then we would have to fight them again."
He pointed down to the map of Gettysburg and the hills south of town.
"We do this attack tomorrow; and after we take those hills, then what? The road to Baltimore will still be open, and they will retreat Even if they abandon the army's immediate supply trains, they will get out dig in someplace else, and men we'll have to attack yet again."
Lee, staring again at the map, did not speak.
"Sir, it's defensive. This ground is defensive. Beyond that there is no barrier we can pin them against to finish it Jeb and his boys might dream of a glorious sabre charge to wipe them out once we get them running, but it won't happen."
"Sir, we could finish it if you would break them up," Stuart said heatedly.
"No offense, Jeb, but you are not Murat and this is not Napoleon's army. Those days are finished. These Yankees are not a mob running away, armed with smoothbores, where they can only get one shot off before you are into them. The rifle has changed all that They might be broken, but you try and charge and they'll shred you at two hundred yards."
"We don't need a discussion of tactics now," Lee interjected.
"General Lee, I beg you to step back and take a look, a long careful look at what'you are proposing tomorrow and what will be the result even if we do take those hills."
Lee was silent gaze locked on the maps.
"Sir?"
He finally looked up.
"Most likely at this very moment General Meade is looking at nearly the same thing. He knows where we are. He knows our line of communication traces back to Chambersburg. Given that we are deep inside their territory, enough civilians have most likely slipped through to tell him that my own corps is still stretched out between Chambersburg and Cashtown, while Hill and Ewell are already up here.
"We know that Hancock was in command of that hill today. He held it He will wish to continue to hold it That is most likely what he is advising Meade to do at this very moment. We could ride out of here now, sir, go to the south end of town and listen to them digging in up there. They are digging in on Culp's Hill as well and down along the ridge that stretches to the two hills south of town.
"It's the good position; the roads leading in are good; all he has to do is dig in.
"Let him," Longstreet announced, voice becoming animated. "Then we know exactly where he is. Sir, he will pour into this point like water going down a funnel, and they will pour up die roads from here, here, and here. That sir, is what Meade will see and what Meade will do."
Lee held up his hand, a quiet gesture, not dismissive, simply indicating a wish for silence.
Again he could hear the ticking of the clock, the rattle of an ambulance passing outside the window, the first of a long train of ambulances coming down from the cemetery.
Four thousand men tonight, he thought And the price tomorrow? If it was worth it, then I would pay it; but if Pete is right would I have but a half victory here even if we did win… and at what cost?
The silence continued. His gaze locked onto the map.
The wrong decision here, and the men being carried past the window would have shed their blood for what? By attacking, does that redeem the mistake of the last charge or just add more to the bill, and without meaning, without results?
Take control back. That is what I resolved to myself back at Chambersburg three days ago. But instead this place, this ground, is now taking control of me. And that realization was fundamental and startling to him.
He noticed that someone, without comment had placed a tin cup of coffee by his side and, without taking his eyes off the map, he took the cup and sipped.
The pendulum of the clock continued to drift back and forth, measuring out the seconds with a tick-tock steadiness.