Road Not Taken

For John, BLUF:  War is an activity in which chance plays a large role.  In this case chance gave us the Battle of Gettysburg, but might have given us the Battle of Pittsburg.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The forts of Pittsburgh

From The Pittsburgh Post Gazette, by Reporter Salena Zito, 2 July 2023, 5:30 AM.

Here is the lede plus three:

On the afternoon of June 18, 1863, the city of Pittsburgh was thrown into a state of panic when rumors flew through the streets that Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s army had occupied the Shenandoah Valley in force — and was preparing an incursion into Western Pennsylvania. In short order, Union General William T.H. Brooks, whose command of the Department of the Monongahela was located in East Liberty, rode into the city and confirmed to a swelling and “excited” crowd that he was had received an “urgent dispatch” from General Henry Halleck, the General-in-Chief of all Union forces at the War Department.  “It is thought that an attack on Pittsburgh and Wheeling was imminent and it was recommended that both cities be put in a state of immediate defense,” Brooks told the crowd.

Within hours, the civic leaders of this city met at the Monongahela House — then the preeminent hotel in the city — where they decided it was “an imperative necessity” that thousands of men were needed to build fortifications all around the city.

Michael Kraus, an American Civil War historian and curator at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall, says they resolved to close down all businesses in the city to gather the needed manpower:  “That included the railroads and manufacturing,” he said, adding with a smile that “they also made sure that all liquor sales were halted during the shutdown.  You can’t drink and work was their thinking.”

Every available man was put to work, with many of the companies around Pittsburgh contributing their labor forces for the work.  “It was reported to be 111 degrees in the sun and 88 in the shade, so this is tough work that they’re doing,” said Mr. Kraus.  That three-week endeavor resulted in the construction of 37 earthen redoubts — battery sites, powder magazines and small forts — spread over 12 miles across the city, as well as in Allegheny City and Millvale, he said.

What if General Lee had turned his Confederate Army West?  Would he have made Pittsburg?  Would he have won?  What would have been the economic impact on the war effort?  Would it have changed the course of the war?.

War planning means looking at the Branches and Sequels, that examine the various futures.  This is the futurable, that vast spread of possible outcomes, some favorable and some not.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff