Speaking of anniversaries, today is the 139th anniversary of Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg, which was the high-water mark for the Confederate cause.

In the words of Faulkner:

For every Southern boy fourteen years old, not once but whenever he wants it, there is the instant when it's still not yet two oclock on that July afternoon in 1863, the brigades are in position behind the rail fence, the guns are laid and ready in the woods and the furled flags are already loosened to break out and Pickett himself with his long oiled ringlets and his hat in one hand probably and his sword in the other looking up the hill waiting for Longstreet to give the word and it's all in the balance, it hasn't happened yet, it hasn't even begun yet..."

Lee's army retreated that evening, and Grant took Vicksburg the next day, sundering the would-be nation in half, on the Fourth of July. A little less than two years later, Lee would surrender to him at Appomattox Courthouse.

And July 1 was the 86th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of the Somme, one of the low water marks of WWI Allied generalship.

The annoying part is that Lee was prevented from retreating across the Potomac for seven days because of floods. If Meade (the Union Commander) had gotten his head out of his cowardly arse and attacked, the Army of Northern Virginia would have been destroyed and the war would have ended in 1863. Instead, Grant had to be brought in and two years of meat grinding ensued. A couple of hundred thousand lives would have been saved.

Yes, but it was hardly the first of such lost opportunities. McClellan let Lee get away several times earlier, most notably at Sharpsburg/Antietam. Terrible Union generalship turned what could possbily have been one-year war into a four-year war.

A couple of years ago, my wife and I had the opportunity to walk the ground where Pickett's Charge took place. I remember emerging from the tree line, looking out over the field, and at the ridge where the Yankee guns had waited.

Then I looked up at the huge, equestrian statue of Rober E. Lee and murmered, "Marse Robert, what were you thinking?"

I've been reading Grant's memoirs which I would highly recommend for their readability. Just finished the Vicksburg campaign, and while I was aware of the success of the campaign and its importance, I had to marvel at the pluck, the audacity, and the brilliance of Grant and the Union Army. They succeeded while outnumbered, on enemy ground, and against all odds. Grant has always been considered a capable soldier. He deserves to be ranked at least with Lee in verve and guts. Besides, he's finally starting to get some deserved recognition for his unjustly maligned presidency.

I'm not sure his presidency was unjustly maligned. He did seem to have made some poor choices of friends and cabinet members.