The Battle of Gettysburg

In June of 1863, Confederate Army Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia Robert E. Lee had a vision to bring the Civil War out of the South and West and into the North. His troops had yet to successfully do so, though they had tried once before. He hoped that a major shift in the fighting locations would help the South win the war.

The previous September, Lee had attempted to invade Union territory in Maryland, resulting in a heavy blow to the Confederacy at the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day of the war yet. Just after Antietam, feeling victorious despite heavy Union losses, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which would abolish slavery in the South and free all African-Americans from bondage should the North regain control of the southern states. And after the Union’s success at Antietam, rumors ceased that France and England were thinking of recognizing the Confederacy.

Now however, Lee proposed to take the offensive once again, this time invading Pennsylvania and defeating the Union Army in its own territory. This second invasion of the North in the summer of 1863 would come to be known as the Gettysburg Campaign.

Such a victory in Pennsylvania would relieve Virginia of the burden of war, strengthen the hand of “Peace Democrats” in the North who wanted an immediate end to the war, and undermine President Abraham Lincoln's chances for reelection. It would reopen the possibility for European support that was closed at Antietam. And perhaps, it would even lead to peace.

The result of Lee’s vision was the largest battle ever fought on the North American continent. This was the Battle of Gettysburg, where more than 170,000 troops fought and over 40,000 were killed or injured.

Lee began his quest in mid-June, leading 75,000 soldiers out of Virginia into south-central Pennsylvania. Forty miles to the south of Lee, the new commander of the Union Army of the Potomac, General George Meade, headed north with his 95,000 soldiers. When Lee learned of the approach of this concentrated force, he sent messengers to his generals with orders to reunite just west of Gettysburg, a town not far from the Virginia-Pennsylvania border, to do battle.

As sections of the Confederate Army moved to join together, Confederate States Army General A.P. Hill heard a rumor that that there was a large supply of shoes in the town of Gettysburg. Eager for extra supplies, on July 1, 1863, he sent one of his divisions to get them. While there, Hill’s division was surprised to see Union troops under the command of Brigadier General John Buford arriving south of town. When Hill received word, he went against Lee’s directions — to avoid any engagement with the enemy until the entire Confederate force was concentrated — and set off for Gettysburg.

As Hill approached Gettysburg from the west, he met with Buford’s troops. Messengers from both sides were sent out for reinforcements. By early afternoon, 40,000 troops were on the battlefield, aligned in a semicircle north and west of the town. The Confederates drove the outnumbered Union troops towards Cemetery Hill, just south of town, where Union artillery located on the hill halted the retreat.

At noon on July 2, the second day of the battle, reinforcements continued to arrive on both sides. The Union stationed a large number of troops in the center of its fishhook shaped formation, so that they could reinforce any of the front lines. Lee ordered his divisions to attack, hoping to crumble both sides of the Union line and win the battle. The Big Round Top and Little Round Top were two nearby hills that had been left unprotected. If the Confederates could take positions on top of these hills, they could surround the Union forces.

Union troops under Colonel Joshua Chamberlain arrived just in time to meet Confederate troops charging up the hill to Little Round Top. In some of the most ferocious fighting of the battle, Chamberlain's soldiers held on to Little Round Top and perhaps saved the Union from defeat.

Lee was determined to leave Pennsylvania with a victory. On the third day of battle, he ordered a major assault against the center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge. Confederate batteries started to fire into the center of the Union forces. The firing continued for two hours. At 3 p.m. under the command of General George Pickett, 14,000 Confederate soldiers began their famous charge across three-quarters of a mile of open field to the Union line.

Few Confederates made it. Lee's attempt for a decisive victory in Pennsylvania had failed. He had lost 28,000 troops — one-third of his army. A month later, he offered his resignation to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, which was refused. Meade, in comparison, had lost 23,000 Union soldiers. Even so, the Union had halted the invasion of the North and come out as the victors of the battle.

The hope for Southern recognition by any foreign government was dashed. The war continued for two more years, but Gettysburg marked the end of Lee's major offensives. The Confederacy would stumble from there on out towards its defeat.

Lincoln recognized the Battle of Gettysburg as the turning point that it was. However, he felt the need to raise the Unions’ spirits considering how bloody and hard-fought the victory at Gettysburg had been. Four months after the battle, Lincoln spoke at the dedication of the new Soldier’s National Cemetery in Gettysburg. There, he encouraged the Union to honor its tens of thousands of fallen soldiers by winning the war in a speech famously known as the Gettysburg Address.