The Battle of The Battle of GettysburgGettysburg

July 1st - July 3rd1863

Battle of Gettysburg

The fighting at Gettysburg was the largest and most famous battle of

the Civil War.

It marked the South’s greatest advance into the North - and the beginning of its eventual defeat

Before the Battle• Confederates had inflicted a bloody defeat of the Union at

Fredericksburg, VA. In December, 1862

• North was defeated again in the Battle of Chancellorsville, VA April 30-May 6, 1863

Before the Battle

• Confederate General Robert E. Lee decides to invade the North for a second time in Spring-Early Summer ‘63:

– To gain supplies

– To pull Union forces away from Vicksburg, Mississippi which was under siege and expected to surrender soon

– He hoped that a decisive victory would force the Union to surrender before Vicksburg fell

Gettysburg

Day 1• Confederate soldiers led by

A.P. Hill went on a search for shoes in Gettysburg, attacked by Union troops

• 90,000 Union troops took the field against 75,000 Confederates

• Confederates take control over the town of Gettysburg

Day 2• Lee orders General James Longstreet

to attack at Cemetery Ridge

• Confederate soldiers attack at an unprotected Union hill known as Little Round Top

• Union leaders send Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlain and his men to defend Little Round Top

• Because Chamberlain was running low on fuel, he ordered his men to attack the Confederates with fixed bayonets. This surprise attack left Confederates surrendering in droves.

Day 3• Lee felt could break Union defenses,

because Union weakened

• Lee ordered an artillery barrage at the middle of Union lines mid afternoon

• • PICKETT’S CHARGE - Longstreet,

confident the barrage had silenced Union guns, ordered Confederate troops to attack the center of the Union lines behind a stone wall.

• Northern artillery resumed its fire and crippled the Confederate attackers, only a handful of which made it to the stone wall.

• Lee sent General Jeb Stuart’s forces to surprise attack Union General Meade’s forces.

Day 3

• Lee had made an uncharacteristic error, as the Confederates lay defeated he ordered his men to retreat back south

• The Confederacy never again threatened the Northern capital

After the Battle• More than 23,000 Union

casualties and 28,000 Confederate Casualties

• Lee turned in his resignation which Jefferson Davis did not accept

• The North won the Battle of Vicksburg exactly one day after the Battle of Gettysburg ended, on July 4th, 1863

The Gettysburg Address

• Four months later President Lincoln visited the battle site and gave what would become his most famous speech

Significance of Gettysburg• Turning point in the war• Crippled South so badly, Lee never invaded

Northern states again• Gettysburg Address helped the nation realize it

was not just a collection of individual states