Gettysburg

The battle of Gettysburg took place during the Civil War. Over 160,000 troops fought in the battle. The battle of Gettysburg was named the battle of Gettysburg because the battle took place within the city, and within the outside border of the city. A lot of the fighting was done in the hills outside of the city. The battle started when General Lee of the confederate army attacked General George Gordon Meade’s army in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. This battle ended Lee’s attacks of the north. The union had the cavalry division, reinforced by two large groups of infantry guarding the northwest of town. The Confederate attacked with two large groups of soldiers from the north and northwest. With this attack, the Union line was destroyed, causing the Union soldiers to retreat to the hills south of town. During the second day of this battle, the Confederate launched attacks at the Union groups. The Union held their ground. On the third day the Confederate army attacked the Union army, this attack or “charge” was later named Pickett’s charge. The attack was named “Pickett’s charge” because one of the three Confederate generals was named George Pickett. This charge was predicted by the Union army, and was counter attacked by Union artillery fire. This counter attack caused great losses to the Confederate army. Lee and his army retreated to Virginia. After retreating, Lee had reformed his army into a defensive stance. Hoping that Meade and the Union army would attack. But Meade decided against attacking, for fear of criticism. Lee had offered Meade a prisoner exchange, Meade rejected the offer.  The battle had been won by the Union; the Union had stood its ground against the Confederate on home soil. Lincoln and General Halleck continued to plea Meade to attack Lees army more aggressively, he did not do so, Lee and his army crossed over the Potomac river into the south where they would be safe. During these three days of battle 46286 troops were killed/injured. The November of that year (1963) president Abraham Lincoln gave a speech named the “Gettysburg Address”. The speech was given at Gettysburg National Cemetery. Today, this address is one of the most quoted speeches of all time in the United States. During this speech, the president had redefined the Civil war as “a new birth for freedom”.  The president also said that the Civil war had given all citizens true equality.  Before this battle, Lee thought his men were invincible. This probably was due to the fact of the former success his men had in former battles. But after this battle Lee knew that his men were not invincible. This battle is often called the turning point of the Civil War. After this battle, the Union became more powerful, more confident, and the Confederacy had lost all confidence and started to crumble.