The Battle of Gettysburg

By: Billie Beth Ricca

What?

• Spanning over three days, from July 1-3, 1863, The Battle of Gettysburg was the costliest battle in the American Civil war based on number of casualties.

• It was an attempt to strengthen the peace effort in the North or possibly gain diplomatic recognition from Europe, Lee gambles and pursued the Union army into northern soil. The tide of the war turned against the South as the Confederates were defeated at the three day battle at Gettysburg in Pennsylvania with Union causalities at 23,000 and confederate at 28,000. After the battle when the battlefield is dedicated as a cemetery, Lincoln made a few preliminary remarks known as the “Gettysburg Address.”

Who?• General Robert E. Lee was the Confederate commander of the Army of Northern

Virginia. The general was at the pinnacle of his career and his army apparently unstoppable when they marched into the North that summer of 1863, but the Battle of Gettysburg would prove to be the "high tide" of his army and the war. Never again would Lee be able to mount such an offensive operation into the northern states.

• General James Longstreet The most trusted of Lee's corps commanders, Longstreet's troops fought on July 2 and July 3rd at Gettysburg. The general was in charge of the main Southern attack on the last day of the battle.

• General George Pickett One Lee's generals, General Pickett commanded a division of Virginia soldiers. His name is forever associated with the third and final day of the battle and the climactic attack against the Union center, known as "Pickett's Charge".

• General George Meade was a native Pennsylvanian who was appointed command of the Union Army of the Potomac only three days before the Battle of Gettysburg.

• Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States from 1861-1865 and after the battle delivered the Gettysburg address.

• General John Buford The commander of  Army of the Potomac, his troops encountered the Confederates on June 30th near Gettysburg. It was Buford who decided to stay in the area overnight and wait for the Confederates to return the following day. His choice would set the stage for the Battle of Gettysburg that began the following day.

July 1-3, 1863Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

• Union Commanders: General Meade was in overall command with Generals Buford, Reynolds, Doubleday, Hancock and others in charge of different units.– Union Troops Involved: Approx. 95,000– Union Casualties: 23,040

• Confederate Commanders: General Robert E. Lee was in overall command with Generals Longstreet, Hill, Ewell, Heth, Pickett, Stuart and others in charge of different units.– Confederate Troops Involved: Approx. 75,000– Confederate Casualties: Estimated between 22,000

and 25,000

Where?

• The Battle of Gettysburg took place in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, near a small farm town. Gettysburg is in Adams County. To get to Gettysburg, the soldiers had to travel through the mountains and over a couple rivers. With these obstacles, it was harder for them to get from place to place. The soldiers also had to get everywhere they went by foot.

• 1820 Congress passes the Missouri compromise, prohibiting slavery in most of the western territories.

• 1854 Congress passes the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repeals the Missouri Compromise.• 1854, July Anti-slavery northerners found the Republican Party.• 1857 In the Dred Scott decision, the Supreme Court rules that congress cannot prohibit

slavery in the territories.• 1859 White northerner John Brown, who hoped to start a slave rebellion, attacks the

government with a raid at Harper's Ferry, Virginia.• 1860 Upon Republican Abraham Lincoln's election as president, 11 southern states

secede from the Union.• 1861, April 12 The Confederates attack Fort Sumter and the Civil War begins.• 1863, May 1-3 General Lee leads Confederate troops to victory at Chancellorsville,

Virginia.• 1863, June 28 General Robert E. Lee and Lieutenant General James Longstreet are in

Chambersburg, PA and receive word that the Federal Army of the Potomac is heading into Pennsylvania.

• 1863, June 30 Two brigades from John Buford's Union cavalry division scout ahead and enter Gettysburg. Finding signs of Confederates nearby to the Northwest, Buford sends word to Major General John Reynolds in Emmitsburg, Maryland to bring his infantry as soon as possible.

Events Leading to Battle…

Prior to Battle…

• The Civil war had been going on for two years.

• Although South was doing well, Robert E. Lee wanted to expand Confederate territory. He wanted to gain supplies from Pennsylvania, and was hoping to blowout the Union forces to win the war for the Confederacy.

• General Robert E. Lee marched his army, the Army of Northern Virginia, out of central Virginia and north toward the Potomac River with the objective of invading Maryland and Pennsylvania. His army was in need of supplies and raw materials from northern farms and warehouses.

• General Lee hoped to win the war for the Confederacy by demoralizing the North.

• The Confederacy wanted to be recognized as an independent nation.

• After General Buford spotted Confederate troops near Gettysburg, he sent word to the Union to defend their territory.

Reasons for Battle…

Day One: Wednesday, July 1, 1863

The two armies began to collide as Lee concentrated his forces there, low ridges to the northwest of town were defended initially by a Union cavalry division, which was soon reinforced with two units of Union infantry. However, two large Confederate units assaulted them from the northwest and north, collapsing the hastily developed Union lines, the North was overpowered by additional southern troops, and driven back through town.http://www.army.mil/gettysburg/flash.html

Day Two: Thursday, July 2, 1863

• The battle lines were drawn up in two sweeping arcs. The main portions of both armies were nearly a mile apart on two parallel ridges; Union forces on Cemetery Ridge formed a three mile "fish hook", while the Confederate forces surrounded them with a six mile arc on Seminary Ridge to the west. Lee ordered an attack against both Union flanks.

To the north, the attack ultimately proved futile against the entrenched Union right on East Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill. There was a lack of effective communication that proved the downfall of the Confederacy this day. If they had only known that they were only a few hundred yards away from taking the Unions supply trains...

Day Three: Friday, July 3, 1863

• Lee decided to attack the Union center on Cemetery Ridge. At 1 in the afternoon, the southern artillery opened a bombardment that for a time engaged the massed guns of both sides in a thundering duel for supremacy, but did little to soften up the Union battle lines.Then came the climax of the Battle of Gettysburg...with a salute from Longstreet, General George E. Pickett, in a desperate attempt to recapture the partial success of the preceding day, spearheaded one of the most incredible efforts in military history...a massed infantry assault of 15,000 Confederate troops across the open field toward the Union center on Cemetery Ridge. One mile they marched, while being pounded by artillery and rifle fire. Through it all, Pickett's men reached but failed to break the Union line, and the magnificent effort ended in disaster. The tide of the Confederacy had "swept to its crest, paused, and receded." In 50 minutes, 10,000 in the assault had become casualties, and the attack - forever to be known as Pickett's Charge - was now history.

The Aftermath…• The South's retreat and terrible losses were a turning point in the

war. From that point on, the South had to abandon its attempt to take the war North.

• It was the furthest North that Confederate forces invaded. If the Union had lost, the Confederates would have been able to march on Washington DC easily. The losses of men and material crippled the South for the remainder of the war. The Union was better equipped to make up for their losses.

• Union doctors were caring for both Union and Confederates soldiers along with the citizens of Gettysburg.

• The Soldiers National Cemetery was dedicated on November 19, 1863, and was the occasion of President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, when the president not only dedicated a cemetery but gave the north a reason to continue the struggle to reunite the nation, the focus of the American Civil War.

• In over the past four years of conflict we have honored the brave 4,100 American soldiers lost in Iraq. But must us not forget this one battle of the civil war, with its total of 51,000 of American soldiers , whose lives were forever lost, in only three days.

• Never again would Lee's Army of Northern Virginia be able to strike so far into the North or seriously threaten the northern capitol. Gettysburg was the beginning of the final path, which led these armies finish out America’s bloodiest battle.

Sources

• http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/gettysburg.html?gclid=CPfC3_H_rp4CFRPxDAod5UZqlA

• http://americancivilwar.com/kids_zone/gettysburg_battle.html

• http://americanhistory.about.com/library/fastfacts/blffcwbattles1.htm

• http://www.army.mil/gettysburg/flash.html• The Civil War and Reconstruction- A Student

Companion by William L. Barney