Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg was fought in the American Civil War between the Union and Confederate armies in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle, won by the Union, is widely considered the Civil War's turning point, leading to an ultimate victory of the Union and the preservation of the nation. The Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle of both the Civil War and of any battle in American military history, claiming over 50,000 combined casualties. Union Major General George Meade's Army of the Potomac defeated attacks by Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, halting Lee's invasion of the North and forcing his retreat.
After his success in the Battle of Chancellorsville in Spotsylvania County, Virginia in May 1863, Lee led his Confederate forces through the Shenandoah Valley to begin the Gettysburg campaign, his second attempt to invade the North. With Lee's army in high spirits, he intended to shift the focus of the summer campaign from war-ravaged Northern Virginia in the hopes of penetrating as far as Harrisburg or Philadelphia, which he hoped would convince northern politicians to end the war. President Abraham Lincoln initially prodded Major General Joseph Hooker into pursuing Lee, then relieved him of command just three days before the Battle of Gettysburg commenced, replacing him with Meade.
On July 1, 1863, as Lee's forces moved on Gettysburg in the hopes of destroying the Union army, the two armies encountered each other, and the battle commenced. Low ridges to the northwest of Gettysburg were initially defended by a Union cavalry division under Brigadier General John Buford, soon reinforced by two corps of Union infantry. Two large Confederate corps assaulted them from the northwest and north, however, collapsing the hastily developed Union lines, leading them to retreat through the streets of Gettysburg to the hills just south of the city. On the second day of battle, on July 2, the Union line was laid out in a defensive formation resembling a fishhook. In the late afternoon, Lee launched a heavy assault on the Union's left flank, leading to fierce fighting at Little Round Top, the Wheatfield, Devil's Den, and the Peach Orchard. On the Union's right flank, Confederate demonstrations escalated into full-scale assaults on Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill. Despite incurring significant losses, Union forces held their lines.
On the third day of battle, July 3, fighting resumed on Culp's Hill, and cavalry battles raged to the east and south of Gettysburg. Pickett's Charge featured the main engagement, a Confederate infantry assault of approximately 12,000 Confederate troops, who attacked the center of the Union line at Cemetery Ridge, which was repelled by Union rifle and artillery fire, leading to great Confederate losses. The following day, on the Fourth of July, Lee led his Confederate troops on the torturous retreat from the North. Between 46,000 and 51,000 soldiers from both armies were casualties in the three-day Battle of Gettysburg, the most in any battle in American history.
On November 19, Lincoln traveled to Gettysburg, where he spoke at a ceremony dedicating the Gettysburg National Cemetery, which honored the fallen Union soldiers and redefined the purpose of the Civil War in his famed Gettysburg Address, a 271-word speech that has endured as one of the most famous in American history.
Background
Military situation
Shortly after the Army of Northern Virginia won a major victory over the Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Chancellorsville, General Robert E. Lee decided upon a second invasion of the North. Such a move would upset the Union's plans for the summer campaigning season and possibly reduce the pressure on the besieged Confederate garrison at Vicksburg. The invasion would allow the Confederates to live off the bounty of the rich Northern farms while giving war-ravaged Virginia a much-needed rest. In addition, Lee's 72,000-man army could threaten Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, and possibly strengthen the growing peace movement in the North.Initial movements to battle
Thus, on June 3, Lee's army began to shift northward from Fredericksburg, Virginia. Following the death of Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, Lee reorganized his two large corps into three new corps, commanded by Lieutenant General James Longstreet, Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell, and Lieutenant General A.P. Hill ; both Ewell and Hill, who had formerly reported to Jackson as division commanders, were new to this level of responsibility. The cavalry division remained under the command of Major General J.E.B. Stuart.The Union's Army of the Potomac, commanded by Major General Joseph Hooker, consisted of seven infantry corps, a cavalry corps, and an artillery reserve, for a combined strength of more than 100,000 men.
The first major action of the campaign took place on June 9 between cavalry forces at Brandy Station, near Culpeper, Virginia. The 9,500 Confederate cavalrymen under Stuart were surprised by Major General Alfred Pleasonton's combined arms force of two cavalry divisions and 3,000 infantry, but Stuart eventually repelled the Union attack. The inconclusive battle, the largest predominantly cavalry engagement of the war, proved for the first time that Union cavalrymen were equal to their Southern counterparts.
By mid-June, the Army of Northern Virginia was poised to cross the Potomac River and enter Maryland. After defeating the Union garrisons at Winchester and Martinsburg, Ewell's Second Corps began crossing the river on June 15. Hill's and Longstreet's corps followed on June 24 and 25. Hooker's army pursued, keeping between Washington, D.C., and Lee's army. The Union army crossed the Potomac from June 25 to 27.
Lee gave strict orders for his army to minimize any negative effects on the civilian population. Food, horses, and other supplies were generally not seized outright unless a citizen concealed property, although quartermasters reimbursing Northern farmers and merchants with Confederate money which was virtually worthless or with equally worthless promissory notes were not well received. Various towns, most notably York, Pennsylvania, were required to pay indemnities in lieu of supplies, under threat of destruction. During the invasion, the Confederates seized between 40 and nearly 60 northern African Americans. A few of them were escaped fugitive slaves, but many were freemen; all were sent south into slavery under guard.
On June 26, elements of Major General Jubal Early's division of Ewell's corps occupied the town of Gettysburg after chasing off newly raised 26th Regiment Pennsylvania Emergency Militia Infantry in a series of minor skirmishes. Early laid the borough under tribute, but did not collect any significant supplies. Soldiers burned several railroad cars and a covered bridge, and destroyed nearby rails and telegraph lines. The following morning, Early departed for adjacent York County.
Meanwhile, in a controversial move, Lee allowed Stuart to take a portion of the army's cavalry and ride around the east flank of the Union army. Lee's orders gave Stuart much latitude, and both generals share the blame for the long absence of Stuart's cavalry, as well as for the failure to assign a more active role to the cavalry left with the army. Stuart and his three best brigades were absent from the army during the crucial phase of the approach to Gettysburg and the first two days of battle. By June 29, Lee's army was strung out in an arc from Chambersburg to Carlisle to near Harrisburg and Wrightsville on the Susquehanna River.
In a dispute over the use of the forces defending the Harpers Ferry garrison, Hooker offered his resignation, and Abraham Lincoln and General-in-Chief Henry W. Halleck, who were looking for an excuse to rid themselves of him, immediately accepted. They replaced Hooker early on the morning of June 28 with Major General George Gordon Meade, then commander of the V Corps.
On June 29, when Lee learned that the Army of the Potomac had crossed the Potomac River, he ordered a concentration of his forces around Cashtown, located at the eastern base of South Mountain and west of Gettysburg. On June 30, while part of Hill's corps was in Cashtown, one of Hill's brigades ventured toward Gettysburg. In his memoirs, Major General Henry Heth, Pettigrew's division commander, claimed that he sent Pettigrew to search for supplies in town—especially shoes.
When Pettigrew's troops approached Gettysburg on June 30, they noticed Union cavalry under Major General John Buford arriving south of town, and Pettigrew returned to Cashtown without engaging them. When Pettigrew told Hill and Heth what he had seen, neither general believed that there was a substantial Union force in or near the town, suspecting that it had been only Pennsylvania militia. Despite Lee's order to avoid a general engagement until his entire army was concentrated, Hill decided to mount a significant reconnaissance in force the following morning to determine the size and strength of the enemy force in his front. Around 5a.m. on Wednesday, July 1, two brigades of Heth's division advanced to Gettysburg.
Opposing forces
Union
The Army of the Potomac, initially under Hooker, consisted of more than 100,000 men in the following organization:- I Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. John F. Reynolds, with divisions commanded by Brig. Gen. James S. Wadsworth, Brig. Gen. John C. Robinson, and Maj. Gen. Abner Doubleday.
- II Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, with divisions commanded by Brig. Gens. John C. Caldwell, John Gibbon, and Alexander Hays.
- III Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. Daniel Sickles, with divisions commanded by Maj. Gen. David B. Birney and Maj. Gen. Andrew A. Humphreys.
- V Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. George Sykes, with divisions commanded by Brig. Gens. James Barnes, Romeyn B. Ayres, and Samuel W. Crawford.
- VI Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick, with divisions commanded by Brig. Gen. Horatio G. Wright, Brig. Gen. Albion P. Howe, and Maj. Gen. John Newton.
- XI Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. Oliver Otis Howard, with divisions commanded by Brig. Gen. Francis C. Barlow, Brig. Gen. Adolph von Steinwehr, and Maj. Gen. Carl Schurz.
- XII Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. Henry W. Slocum, with divisions commanded by Brig. Gens. Alpheus S. Williams and John W. Geary.
- Cavalry Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, with divisions commanded by Brig. Gens. John Buford, David McM. Gregg, and H. Judson Kilpatrick.
- Artillery Reserve, commanded by Brig. Gen. Robert O. Tyler.