I am unable to comprehend how he can have made such a stupid mistake

Some folks think the poor state of his health may have impaired his usually sound judgement on that fateful day. He was fatigued and haunted from a bad heart that had just worsened dramatically, and which sporadically thrumped and pained his chest all through that engagement at Gettysburg. Everytime he felt his heart's sudden paroxysms he feared it could be the final explosion. But he steeled himself against it and carried on. Lived a few years after the war, too. For a fine account of this, and the battle itself, I always recommend Michael Shaara's exquisite and gripping historical novel, The Killer Angels.


Your Happy Epeolatrist!