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The Battle of Gettysburg was fought on July 1-3, 1863 in and around the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. General Lee, the Confederate commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, led his army on an invasion of the north. He Knew that the North was stronger than the South and the longer the war continued, the less chance the South had of winning the war. Lee hoped that a convincing win on Union soil would gain recognition of the Confederacy from Great Britain and force the Union to agree to peace. General George Gordon Meade had been given command of the Union Army of the Potomac mere days before the battle began. General Lee assumed that Meade would be as indecisive and passive as his predecessors were. Lee was wrong. July 1 Neither Army had planned on fighting at Gettysburg, but on July 1, Union cavalry and infantry ran into a Confederate division west of town and the battle began. Both sides hurried troops to the scene and rushed them into battle as soon as they arrived. The Confederates had more troops engaged on this first day, and despite heroic resistance by the Union troops, were able to push the Union back into defensive positions. The 24th Michigan Regiment of the Iron Brigade participated in a particularly brutal part of this battle with the 26th North Carolina at McPherson's Woods. Both sides knew the stakes were high and that the Michigan troops were all that separated the North Carolina troops from seizing the high ground and possible victory. The woods in this area were very thick and made for slow, deliberate movement. The Michigan troops slowly fell back as the North Carolina troops advanced. Both sides suffered heavy casualties. The Michigan Regiment started the day with 496 troops and suffered 80% killed, wounded, or missing. Only the North Carolina troops suffered worse losses at Gettysburg. They started the day with 800 men; by nightfall they had suffered 88.5% casualties. To learn more about this engagement, click here.
A memorial dedicated to the men of the 24th Michigan Regiment. On July 1, the Confederates held the advantage in men engaged on the battlefield, 27,000 to 20,000 Union. The Union had fallen back and were awaiting the arrival of reinforcements when night fell. Had the battle ended at this point, it would have been considered a minor victory for the Confederates. July 2 As the fighting began on July 2, things began to escalate as both sides poured more troops into the fray. The Confederates held the advantage in troops engaged, 34,000 vs. 33,000 Union. Fighting was widespread and desperate at times. The end of the Union's line was assaulted heavily by Confederate General James Longstreet. Places such as Devil's Den, which featured boulders as big as cars and houses, were attacked and occupied by Confederate troops.
Devil's Den At 4 p.m., Longstreet attacked Big and Little Round Top. Big Round Top, which was heavily wooded, was at the extreme left of the Union's lines. Both of the Tops were fought for and defended by the Union troops. The Union was pushed back in some spots, but held the most important areas, including the high ground.
Big Round Top The action at Little Round Top was beginning to look like a breakthrough for the Confederates. Union General Gouverneur K. Warren realized this and had reinforcements rushed to the front to defend this position and hold the line. The Union suffered 780 casualties defending this hill. As you can see in the picture below, many memorials have been built on Little Round Top, each of them signifying an important event. To learn more about the defense of Little Round Top, click here.
Little Round Top The end of the second day left the Union forces battered but not beaten. Again, General Lee could have broken off the fight and it would have been considered a victory for the Confederates. However, Lee knew that he needed a major victory and decided to continue the battle the next day and go for a complete victory. July 3 The beginning of the third day found both armies battered and unprepared for morning attacks. General Meade decided not to attack the Confederates but to dig in and prepare for any assault they might make. General Lee ordered a massive attack be made at the Union center. He believed that this would split the Army of the Potomac in half and the Confederates would then be able to defeat these smaller segments one at a time. At 1:00 p.m. the Confederate artillery opened a massive barrage involving 170 cannon. The Union artillery answered the bombardment with 80 cannon. The battlefield soon became very smoky, reducing visibility and decreasing the effectiveness of the Confederate barrage. The Union commanders ordered their troops to conserve ammunition and to prepare for the Confederate charge. This led the Confederates to believe the Union artillery was retreating. At 3:00 p.m. General George Pickett's men, stretched a mile across, stepped out of the woods and began the 1000 yard long charge across open field against the Union center. Confederate Cannon aimed at the Union center As the 12,000 Confederate troops began the attack, the Union artillery (some of it deployed on Little Round which the Confederates had failed to capture the day before) opened fire with deadly accuracy. Gaps in the lines began to form, but the Confederate troops charged on. The Confederate had already taken huge casualties by the time they reached the 7,000 troops defending the Union lines. The Confederate assault reached the Angle (a point in the Union line where it formed a 90-degree angle) and became engaged in hand to hand combat with the Union troops. Union reinforcements rushed forward and cut off any hopes of retreat. The Confederates suffered losses around two thirds of the men involved in the attack. Pickett's Charge lasted fifteen minutes, the furthest point in the Union lines the Confederates reached is considered the "High Water Mark", for never again would the Confederates have the capability of mounting a serious offensive campaign. To learn more about Pickett's Charge, click here.
The Angle Following Pickett's Charge, the Confederate's began a retreat to Virginia. General Meade chose not to heavily pursue the Army of Northern Virginia and therefore most of the remaining Confederates were able to escape. The Confederate wagon train of ambulances and wagons stretched for 17 miles. On July 4, heavy rain began to fall and made life even more miserable for the wounded. Some who had been left on the battlefield drowned. Most of the buildings in and around Gettysburg were used to treat the wounded. As the armies left Gettysburg, they left behind a community in shambles. More than 51,000 men were killed, wounded, or missing. Many of the dead were buried wherever they could be; some were not buried at all. Pennsylvania's Governor Andrew Curtin commissioned a burial ground for the Union dead. Seventeen acres were purchased and the reinterment of the Union graves began. The land became Gettysburg National Cemetery. Only Union soldiers are buried here, the Confederate soldiers were considered traitors and following the war their bodies were removed and reburied in cemeteries in the South.
171 Michigan Soldiers are buried at Gettysburg National Cemetery The cemetery was dedicated on November 19, 1863. It was here that President Lincoln gave his speech that became known as The Gettysburg Address. The speech was 272 words long and took two minutes to deliver. It is one of the most famous speeches in history. Several monuments have been dedicated to the soldiers that fought at Gettysburg. The one in the picture below is in approximately the spot that Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address. On February 11, 1895 Gettysburg was as a National Battlefield. To visit the official Nation Park Service site click here. Gettysburg is truly one of the most important events in American history.
The Lincoln Speech Memorial Casualties
Gettysburg Address Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great Civil War; testing whether this nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We have met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate--we cannot consecrate--we cannot hallow-- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth .
Abraham Lincoln
President, United States
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Gettysburg
