Major General Henry Heth in the Battle of Gettysburg

            July of 1863 Major General Henry Heth was placed in charge of divisions in the Third Corps in the Confederate Army. Major General Heth was commanded to move his divisions out of Cashtowm and to the east towards Gettysburg. This is something that is not as widely known when people think about the battle of Gettysburg. Heth was a very aggressive leader and did not often prepare contingencies in case anything were to go wrong in battle. He also did not work well with the friendly forces that were to his right and left limits. Both of these issues should be looked at so future leaders can avowing making the same mistakes. Heth and his divisions unintentionally started the battle of Gettysburg which was a turning point in the Civil War leading to the Union's victory. When Heth's reconnaissance divisions sent to get shoes from Gettysburg met the division of soldiers from the Army of the Potamac there was hard fighting. This caused other leaders on both sides to begin to maneuver towards and around Gettysburg. Major General Heth and his soldiers had started the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. .
             Before the fighting began General Lee ordered his leader to not engage the Union soldiers because he was still in the process of assembling his full force to move against the Union forces. However later actions taken by Heth's troops would go completely against those Lee's intent and cause the Confederacy to not be ready for the battle that would last for the following days. This shows a lack in the communication which for the time period was difficult when trying to get information and orders passed over long distances. In March 1863 during the Battle of Chancellorsville Heth was placed in the position of brigade commander under Major General Hill. During this previous engagement Heth was shown to be aggressive in how he led his troops but this had a poor effect on his decision making by attacking the Union forces without any reserves to help in his attack.