The Gettysburg Address

November 19, 1863

Gettysburg Battle

The Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania was from July 1-3, 1863.

It was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, there were over 40,000 casualties.

The Union was lead by G. George Meade.

The Confederate was lead by Robert E. Lee.

Gettysburg Battle

The Gettysburg battle was a very important battle because Gettysburg is in Pennsylvania which is very far north also close to Pennsylvania. Also if the Confederate won the battle they would have control of the north land. The confederates were the aggressors in the Gettysburg battle but since the confederates lost the Gettysburg Battle they had to retreat to the south and could not really move up the the north. Eventually the Union started moving south.

Gettysburg battle

There were about 70,000-75,000 Confederate soldiers and there were about 85,000-90,000 Union soldiers.

According to myth the Confederate troops were not well equipped, fed or supplied but they were actually very well equipped, fed and supplied.

Of about 15,000 Confederates who began the attack some 6,5000were casualties.

The Federal losses were about 23,000 killed, captured or missing. Confederate casualties varied from about 20,000.

Soldier’s monument in center of Soldier National Cemetery

July 1-3 1863July 1st: a group of Confederates were hoping to find new shoes so they headed into Gettysburg. The Union cavalry commander, Brigadier General John Bufford, spotted the Confederates and moved his troops into position and called reinforcements. The Confederates reported the Union troops. A Confederate attack was ordered on the newly formed Union cavalry line, this began the battle at Gettysburg.

July 3rd: July third was another day of fighting. The last battle began at1:00pm. At the end of the the day Robert E. Lee admitted defeat to his soldiers, he said, “It’s all my fault. My fault.”

July 2nd: Lieutenant General James Longstreet wanted to attack the Union by a flanking movement beyond the Unions left because it might force the Union to attack. Robert E. Lee wanted a more offensive approach, an idea was that the Confederates could mount artillery on the high hills (Little Round top and Round Top). Union Major General Daniel E. Sickles moved his corps about one mile forward of the main line of defense to occupy a peach orchard and wheat field, which weakened the Union left just as the Confederates planned to attack. A half-hearted thrust was made at the hills by Confederate soldiers, meanwhile George Meade had found out about the Round Tops and sent more troops to were Sickles troops were. After many hours of both sides fighting George Mead’s maneuvers saved Little Round top and secured the Union position. The Confederates tried to attack again somewhere else but were overwhelmed by the Union.

Robert E. LeeJanuary 19, 1807- October 12 1870

Robert E. Lee (Leader of Confederate troops) did not want to fight the battle in Gettysburg because losing would lessen their chance of foreign support. Robert E. Lee also did not want to fight the battle because of the poor conditions supplies in Gettysburg. He fought in the Mexican War alongside G. George Meade, the general who lead the Union troops. They had fought together, and almost died together.

George MeadeDecember 31, 1815-Novemer 6, 1872

General George Meade was the leader Union troops and he fought in the Mexican War alongside Robert E. Lee and was best known for defeating General Robert E. Lee at the battle of Gettysburg.

The Public

The public had been unaware about how bloody a civil war would actually be, they were like children, unaware and innocent in terms of knowledge. The generals of the Union and Confederate troops (General George Meade and General Robert E. Lee) had fought together in the Mexican War, so they knew that the war would be just as bad if not worse. The people at large had a wake-up call from the Gettysburg, because it had over 40,000 casualties and was by a landslide the bloodiest battle of the war.