[647] necessary forces could be brought together in order to execute it during the afternoon. It appears that Lee had at first adopted this plan, but, influenced by the advantages obtained over the Third Federal corps, he decided simply to resume on the 3d the movement he had performed the day before. A fatal and inexplicable resolution! He thus persisted in adhering to the tactics of a double attack by way of the two wings, without thinking that the more ground they gained the easier it would be for Meade to lead his forces from one wing to the other in order to repulse them successively. The instructions he gave to his lieutenants were, moreover, so vague that he seemed to leave to each commander the task of fighting a separate battle according to his own fancy. In fact, he apprised Ewell that the battle would commence on the right at daybreak, directing him to take the offensive at the same hour, and yet it was only on the morning of the 3d, long after the hour specified, that Longstreet received the necessary orders to put his troops in motion.
Ewell, in the mean while, is concentrating all his efforts upon his left. Johnson is reinforced by Smith's brigade, which has been detached from Early's division since the 1st; Rodes sends his old brigade and Daniel's to support him on the extreme left, thus enabling Johnson to resume the offensive with seven brigades; the remainder of the Second corps, thus reduced to five brigades, will only support him in case of his succeeding in dislodging the Federal right and turning Cemetery Hill. These movements have been promptly executed; but at the other extremity of the line there is nothing ready for an early morning attack. Pickett, coming from Chambersburg by a forced march, has halted at a distance from the field of battle on the evening of the 2d; Longstreet, informed of his arrival, has given him no information regarding the operations of the next day; consequently, he only comes at seven o'clock in the morning to announce in person the approach of his head of column, which he has forestalled. It is only at this juncture that Lee issues positive orders for the attack which Longstreet is to direct. In order that this attack might be executed by the extreme right, it would be necessary to reinforce the two divisions that have been so much under fire on this side the day
