The Battle of Gettysburg was one of the most significant battles in the history of the United States and is widely considered the turning point of the American Civil War. Fought from July 1st to 3rd, 1863, near the town of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, it was a major Union victory that halted the Confederate invasion of the North and dealt a blow to the Confederate cause from which it never fully recovered. With approximately 51,000 total casualties across three days of fighting, it was the deadliest battle of the entire Civil War.
What Was the American Civil War?
The Battle of Gettysburg took place during the third year of the American Civil War, which was one of the most devastating conflicts in the history of the United States. The Civil War was fought between the Northern states, known as the Union, and the Southern states, known as the Confederacy, from 1861 to 1865. At its heart, the war was driven by the issue of slavery, which had divided the country for decades. By the summer of 1863, the war had reached a critical stage. In the Western Theater, Union forces were closing in on Vicksburg, Mississippi, a key Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River. In the Eastern Theater, Confederate General Robert E. Lee had just won a major victory at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May of 1863, and his army was in high spirits. Lee decided to use this momentum to launch a second invasion of the North, setting the stage for the Battle of Gettysburg.
Battle of Gettysburg – Background and Causes
Following the Confederate victory at Chancellorsville, Lee reorganized his Army of Northern Virginia into three corps. The First Corps was commanded by Lieutenant General James Longstreet, the Second Corps by Lieutenant General Richard Ewell, and the Third Corps by Lieutenant General A.P. Hill. The cavalry was led by Major General Jeb Stuart. Lee’s goals for the invasion of the North were several. He wanted to move the fighting away from war-ravaged Virginia, gather much-needed food and supplies from the rich farmland of Pennsylvania, and potentially win a major victory on Northern soil that might convince Britain or France to recognize the Confederacy. A victory in the North could also damage Northern morale and pressure the Union government into seeking a negotiated peace.
Lee’s army of approximately 75,000 soldiers crossed the Potomac River into Maryland and Pennsylvania in late June of 1863. Meanwhile, the Union Army of the Potomac received a new commander just days before the battle. President Lincoln replaced General Joseph Hooker with Major General George G. Meade on June 28th, giving Meade command of approximately 94,000 soldiers just as a major battle was about to begin. Meade had commanded the army for only three days when the two forces collided at Gettysburg.
Battle of Gettysburg – Day One: July 1st, 1863
The Battle of Gettysburg began unintentionally on the morning of July 1st, 1863. Confederate forces under General Henry Heth marched toward Gettysburg to search for shoes and supplies when they ran into Union cavalry under General John Buford just west of the town. Buford recognized the importance of the high ground south of Gettysburg and used his cavalry to slow the Confederate advance while waiting for Union infantry to arrive. The first Union infantry to reach the field were the men of the First Corps under General John Reynolds, one of the most respected officers in the Army of the Potomac. Reynolds was killed early in the fighting, becoming one of the highest-ranking Union officers to die in the entire war.
Throughout the morning and afternoon of July 1st, both sides poured reinforcements into the battle. Confederate forces under Generals Ewell and Hill eventually outnumbered the Union troops defending the ground north and west of Gettysburg and pushed them back through the streets of the town itself. The Union position collapsed in the late afternoon and thousands of soldiers retreated south through Gettysburg in disorder. However, Union officers rallied their men on the high ground south of town, particularly on Cemetery Hill, and established a new defensive line. General Winfield Hancock, sent by Meade to take command of the field, recognized that the hills south of Gettysburg offered an extremely strong defensive position. By nightfall, the Union army was taking shape along a fishhook-shaped line of hills and ridges running from Culp’s Hill in the north, down Cemetery Hill, along Cemetery Ridge, and ending at two rocky hills known as Little Round Top and Big Round Top in the south. Lee decided to wait until morning to renew his attack.
Battle of Gettysburg – Day Two: July 2nd, 1863
On the morning of July 2nd, Lee made the decision to attack both flanks of the Union defensive line simultaneously. On the Confederate right, Longstreet’s corps was tasked with striking the southern end of the Union line near the Round Tops and along Cemetery Ridge. On the Confederate left, Ewell’s corps would attack Culp’s Hill and Cemetery Hill. Lee hoped that pressure on both flanks at once would prevent Meade from shifting reinforcements from one side to the other.
The fighting on July 2nd was some of the most intense of the entire war. On the Union left, Longstreet’s assault struck hard in the late afternoon, with fierce fighting at a peach orchard, a wheatfield, a rocky formation called Devil’s Den, and the slopes of Little Round Top. A Union engineer officer named General Gouverneur Warren recognized at a critical moment that Little Round Top was undefended and quickly rushed troops to hold it. The defense of Little Round Top prevented the Confederates from gaining the high ground that would have allowed them to fire down the entire Union line. Despite coming very close to breaking the Union flank in several places, Longstreet’s assault was ultimately repulsed with heavy casualties on both sides. On the Union right, Ewell’s attacks on Culp’s Hill and Cemetery Hill also came close to success but were ultimately beaten back as well. By the end of July 2nd, the Union line had held, but only barely.
Battle of Gettysburg – Day Three and Pickett’s Charge
On the morning of July 3rd, Lee made one of the most debated decisions of the entire Civil War. Both flanks of the Union line had proven to be too strong to break on July 2nd. Lee reasoned that Meade had sent reinforcements to his flanks and that the center of the Union line along Cemetery Ridge must therefore be weakened. He ordered a massive frontal assault directly against the center of the Union position, to be led in large part by the fresh division of Major General George Pickett, whose soldiers had not yet been engaged in the battle.
The assault, which came to be known as Pickett’s Charge, involved approximately 12,000 to 13,000 Confederate soldiers from the divisions of Pickett, General J. Johnston Pettigrew, and General Isaac Trimble. The attack was preceded by an enormous artillery bombardment, with approximately 150 Confederate guns firing on the Union positions for nearly two hours. However, much of the fire overshot its targets and the Union line along Cemetery Ridge remained largely intact. At approximately 3:00 in the afternoon, the Confederate infantry stepped out of the tree line on Seminary Ridge and began advancing across nearly three quarters of a mile of open farmland toward the Union position.
The advance was met with devastating Union artillery and rifle fire from the moment it began. Confederate soldiers fell in large numbers as they crossed the open ground with little cover. A small number of Confederate troops, led by General Lewis Armistead, actually broke through the Union line at a point that became known as the High Water Mark of the Confederacy. However, Union reserves quickly closed the gap and the Confederate soldiers who had broken through were surrounded and overwhelmed. The rest of the Confederate assault collapsed and the survivors retreated back across the open ground to Seminary Ridge. Casualties in Pickett’s Charge were catastrophic, with the attacking force losing approximately 50 percent of its men killed, wounded, or captured in less than an hour. When Lee asked General Pickett to reform his division after the attack, Pickett reportedly replied that he had no division left.
Battle of Gettysburg – Aftermath
Lee’s army spent July 4th, 1863, waiting on the battlefield, expecting a Union counterattack that never came. Meade chose not to press his advantage, a decision that deeply frustrated President Lincoln, who believed Lee’s army could have been trapped and forced to surrender. On the night of July 4th, Lee began withdrawing his battered army southward toward the Potomac River and Virginia. The battle had cost Lee approximately 28,000 casualties, roughly one third of his entire army. Union casualties totaled approximately 23,000. The combined total of approximately 51,000 made Gettysburg the deadliest battle of the entire Civil War.
Four months after the battle, on November 19th, 1863, President Lincoln traveled to Gettysburg for the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery, where thousands of Union soldiers killed in the battle were buried. At the ceremony, Lincoln delivered a short speech of just 272 words that became one of the most famous addresses in American history. The Gettysburg Address honored the soldiers who had died there and redefined the purpose of the war, framing it as a struggle not just to preserve the Union but to ensure that the nation would have a new birth of freedom.
Significance of the Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg is widely regarded as the turning point of the American Civil War. It ended the Confederate Army’s last serious offensive into Northern territory and shattered Lee’s reputation for invincibility. The loss of approximately 28,000 soldiers was a blow from which the Confederate army in the East never fully recovered. At the same time, the Union victory at Gettysburg coincided with the fall of Vicksburg on July 4th, 1863, giving the Union control of the Mississippi River and effectively splitting the Confederacy in two. Together, these two events marked the moment when the momentum of the war shifted decisively in favor of the Union. While the Civil War would continue for nearly two more years, the Battle of Gettysburg made clear that the Confederacy could not win the war through military victory on Northern soil.
