NO GAPS

Once a defensive general has made sure his flanks are secured he next needs to make sure there are no breaks in his line. A linear formation can be broken at the gaps. Take that principal to a defensive line, contiguous and the line becomes almost impenetrable, a gap and an attacking force can breach that line exposing two flanks- one on each side of the break. Have a break and you have a breach. At the battle of Fredericksburg union General George Gordon Meade broke through a portion of the confederate line in an area not properly defended by Stonewall Jackson’s troops. Jackson was saved by local support and Meade failed for a lack of support. At Chickamauga on September 20th 1863 a gap broke the back of an army. General Rosecrans laid out his defensive position in a line from Snodgrass Hill on his left to Viniard’s Field on his right. All was well until Roscrans received some information on a supposed gap on his left. To correct the perceived error he ordered General Wood to slide his division left to close the gap which did not exist. General Wood followed orders for reasons beyond the scope of the article and in doing so opened up a gap behind the Brotherton Cabin, smack dab in the center of the union line. Historical irony, in front of the Brotherton Cabin lay three full confederate division led by General James Longstreet. The confederate attack split the union line initiating the worse defeat of a large federal army anywhere during the Civil War. The defense at Cold Harbor, Kennesaw, and many other battles avoided gaps thus avoided the same humiliating defeat Rosecrans’s army suffered in 1863.