1863
Battle of Gettysburg Ends
On the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg,
Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s last attempt at breaking the Union line
ends in disastrous failure, bringing the most decisive battle of the American Civil
War to an end.
In June 1863, following his masterful victory
at the Battle of Chancellorsville, General Lee launched his second invasion of
the Union in less than a year. He led his 75,000-man Army of Northern Virginia
across the Potomac River, through Maryland, and into Pennsylvania, seeking to
win a major battle on Northern soil that would further dispirit the Union war
effort and induce Britain or France to intervene on the Confederacy’s behalf.
The 90,000-strong Army of the Potomac pursued the Confederates into Maryland,
but its commander, General Joseph Hooker, was still stinging from his defeat at
Chancellorsville and seemed reluctant to chase Lee further. Meanwhile, the
Confederates divided their forces and investigated various targets, such as Harrisburg,
the Pennsylvania capital.
On June 28, President Abraham Lincoln replaced
Hooker with General George Meade, and Lee learned of the presence of the Army
of the Potomac in Maryland. Lee ordered his army to concentrate in the vicinity
of the crossroads town of Gettysburg and prepare to meet the Federal army. At
the same time, Meade sent ahead part of his force into Pennsylvania but
intended to make a stand at Pipe Creek in Maryland.
On July 1, a Confederate division under
General Henry Heth marched into Gettysburg hoping to seize supplies but finding
instead three brigades of Union cavalry. Thus began the Battle of Gettysburg,
and Lee and Meade ordered their massive armies to converge on the impromptu
battle site. The Union cavalrymen defiantly held the field against overwhelming
numbers until the arrival of Federal reinforcements. Later, the Confederates
were reinforced, and by mid-afternoon some 19,000 Federals faced 24,000
Confederates. Lee arrived to the battlefield soon afterward and ordered a general
advance that forced the Union line back to Cemetery Hill, just south of the
town.
During the night, the rest of Meade’s force
arrived, and by the morning Union General Winfield Hancock had formed a strong
Union line. On July 2, against the Union left, General James Longstreet led the
main Confederate attack, but it was not carried out until about 4 p.m., and the
Federals had time to consolidate their positions. Thus began some of the
heaviest fighting of the battle, and Union forces retained control of their
strategic positions at heavy cost. After three hours, the battle ended, and the
total number of dead at Gettysburg stood at 35,000.
On July 3, Lee, having failed on the right and
the left, planned an assault on Meade’s center. A 15,000-man strong column
under General George Pickett was organized, and Lee ordered a massive
bombardment of the Union positions. The 10,000 Federals answered the
Confederate artillery onslaught, and for more than an hour the guns raged in
the heaviest cannonade of the Civil War. At 3 p.m., Pickett led his force into
no-man’s-land and found that Lee’s bombardment had failed. As Pickett’s force
attempted to cross the mile distance to Cemetery Ridge, Union artillery blew
great holes in their lines. Meanwhile, Yankee infantry flanked the main body of
“Pickett’s charge” and began cutting down the Confederates. Only a few hundred
Virginians reached the Union line, and within minutes they all were dead,
dying, or captured. In less than an hour, more than 7,000 Confederate troops had
been killed or wounded.
Both armies, exhausted, held their positions
until the night of July 4, when Lee withdrew. The Army of the Potomac was too
weak to pursue the Confederates, and Lee led his army out of the North, never
to invade it again. The Battle of Gettysburg was the turning point in the Civil
War, costing the Union 23,000 killed, wounded, or missing in action. The
Confederates suffered some 25,000 casualties. On November 19, 1863, President
Lincoln delivered his famous Gettysburg Address during the dedication of a new
national cemetery at the site of the Battle of Gettysburg. The Civil War
effectively ended with the surrender of General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia
in April 1865.