Hey everyone, welcome to the 345th episode of our Civil War Podcast.

My name is Rich.

And I'm Tracy.

Hello y'all.

Thanks for tuning into the podcast.

As y'all recall, we've used the last couple of shows to talk about Dan Sickle's life story

and to trace the origin of the bad blood and mistrust between him and George Mead, which

would all play a part in what happened on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg.

As we said at the end of the last show, the point we wanted to make is that with regard

to Sickles and Mead and the danger to the entire Union position at Gettysburg on the second

day of the battle, well, the events of July 2nd didn't take place in a vacuum.

But instead occurred within the context of who Sickles was, who Mead was, and the already

strained relationship between the two men.

So what did happen on July 2nd?

The long and the short of it is that on July 2nd, 1863, Dan Sickles found himself serving

under a commander he didn't particularly care for and assigned to a position he didn't

at all like.

As we talked about previously on the podcast, George Mead, after his arrival at Gettysburg,

took that moonlit ride to survey the federal position.

His route took him southward from Cemetery Hill along Cemetery Ridge toward the round

tops.

Once his ride was complete, he went to his new headquarters at the Widow Lister's

...