re: #94 William Lewis

Long before this, General Buford won the battle with the single finest dragoon operation in North American history. The delaying action that allowed Meade to hold the high ground was everything. It all flows from there.

Absolutely. That forcd the battle that Meade did not want but which he accepted, to his everlasting credit. To my mind, the entire success of Gettysburg depends on the accurate decisions made by the generals under Meade, often with only minutes to make the decision. And the entire failure of the Rebels can be laid on the wildly inaccurate decisions of Lee. He asked his men to follow orders that were simply not realistic or possible.