Introduction
The Battle of Gettysburg was one of the most critical battles of the war and occurred at a time when the fate of the nation hung in the balance, the summer of 1863. The Union cause had suffered several reversals most notably in the eastern theater and the South's most victorious army, the Army of Northern Virginia, led by General Robert E Lee, had successfully repulsed numerous Union threats against the Confederate capitol of Richmond. Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, this army had won strategically important victories at Fredericksburg in 1862 and Chancellorsville, Virginia, in May 1863. With Lee's army thwarting the Army of the Potomac, and the high casualties during that time, a pall was cast over the North. President Lincoln had appointed commander after commander to try and defeat Lee, but none of them could succeed. Yet even as Lee was blocking Union attempts to attack Richmond, the Union Army under General Ulysses S. Grant had encircled Vicksburg, Mississippi, the last great Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River. Lincoln knew that Vicksburg was important, but also knew that the events in Virginia were going to decide the outcome of the war.
In the July of 1863, General Robert E. Lee's Army Of Northern Virginia (75,000 men) and the 97,000 man Union Army Of The Potomac under General George G. Meade met, by chance, when a Confederate brigade sent forward for supplies observed a recon element of Meade's cavalry. Of the more than 2,000 land engagements of the Civil War, Gettysburg is the greatest and most terrible battle of the Civil War. Although the Battle of Gettysburg did not end the war, it devastated both armies, and its effects were a major part of the eventual defeat of the Confederate army.
On July 1, 2, and 3, 1863, at Gettysburg, more men fought and died than in any other battle before or since on American soil. This battle marked the clash of two countries, and demonstrated the terrifying destruction that the weapons of the new age could wreak. This battle would decide which way the tide of the war would turn, and would mark the beginning of the end for the side that lost. Lee needed to take Gettysburg to try to invade the North, and hoped to shatter the North's resolve to fight by defeating the massive Army of the Potomac. The North had to repel Lee's army, and knew that the defeat of Lee's army, coupled with the defeat of Vicksburg, would leave the Confederacy unable to continue fighting with the hope of victory against the Union.
In the July of 1863, General Robert E. Lee's Army Of Northern Virginia (75,000 men) and the 97,000 man Union Army Of The Potomac under General George G. Meade met, by chance, when a Confederate brigade sent forward for supplies observed a recon element of Meade's cavalry. Of the more than 2,000 land engagements of the Civil War, Gettysburg is the greatest and most terrible battle of the Civil War. Although the Battle of Gettysburg did not end the war, it devastated both armies, and its effects were a major part of the eventual defeat of the Confederate army.
On July 1, 2, and 3, 1863, at Gettysburg, more men fought and died than in any other battle before or since on American soil. This battle marked the clash of two countries, and demonstrated the terrifying destruction that the weapons of the new age could wreak. This battle would decide which way the tide of the war would turn, and would mark the beginning of the end for the side that lost. Lee needed to take Gettysburg to try to invade the North, and hoped to shatter the North's resolve to fight by defeating the massive Army of the Potomac. The North had to repel Lee's army, and knew that the defeat of Lee's army, coupled with the defeat of Vicksburg, would leave the Confederacy unable to continue fighting with the hope of victory against the Union.