The Battle of Gettysburg

Before the Battle• Confederates inflict bloody

defeat on Union at Fredericksburg, VA. (12/13/62)

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

• General Stonewall Jackson is shot by his own men in an accident and dies of Pneumonia (May 1863)

• Lee decides to invade North in Spring-Early Summer ‘63:– to gain supplies– pull Union forces away from

Vicksburg, MS– invasion in North would hurt

Lincoln’s political power.

Battle of Gettysburg

• Lee decided to try and take the North by surprise

• If he succeeded in overtaking Gettysburg, he then planned to march south and capture Washington, D.C.

• The Battle of Gettysburg was a three day battle that was one of the most important in the war Turning Point!

Lee

Meade

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 he could break Union defenses, because the Union was 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.

• Northern artillery resumed its fire and crippled the Confederate attackers.

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

• Stuart’s forces were stalled due to a conflict with Union forces led by Robert Gregg.

After the Battle

• More than 23,000 Union casualties and 28,000 Confederate Casualties

• Lee gave up hopes of invading the North and retreated back to Virginia

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

• The North won the Battle of Vicksburg (May 18-July 4th, 1863)

• Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address in November 1863.

After the Battle Continued

• Lincoln replaced Meade with Grant– Grant used the idea of total war - destroy food,

equipment, and anything else the enemy might need

• The war would continue to last for 2 more years!!!– The Wilderness – woods caught fire and burned

thousands of soldiers– Sherman’s March to Sea – Nov. 16, 1864

• Grant ordered William Tecumseh Sherman to capture Atlanta, GA and then March to the Atlantic coast

• His army destroyed everything and burned most of the city to the ground

Significance of Gettysburg

• Turning point in the war

• Crippled South so badly, Lee never invaded Northern state again

• Gettysburg Address helped nation realize not just a collection of individual states