The Battle of Gettysburg (locally , with an "ss" sound), was fought July 1–3, 1863. The battle took place in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It was the battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War. Gettysburg is often called the war's turning point. Union Major General George G. Meade's Army of the Potomac stopped attacks by Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. This ended Lee's second invasion of the North. Lee began to move his men back to Virginia on July 4. Between 46,000 and 51,000 soldiers from both armies were casualties in the three-day battle.
The Siege of Vicksburg ended on the same day, also a Union victory.
That November, a cemetery for those who died there was opened at the Gettysburg National Cemetery. President Abraham Lincoln gave a speech called the Gettysburg Address at the ceremony to open the cemetery and honor the dead soldiers on both sides.
Lee's army won an important battle at Chancellorsville in Virginia in May 1863. Afterwards, he led his army north through the Shenandoah Valley. His plan was to start his second invasion of the North (called the Gettysburg Campaign). Lee had several objectives in mind. He intended to take Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the state capital. This, he hoped, would embarrass the Lincoln administration and force Northern politicians to give up the war. At this point, Lee was playing politics. He knew that if he was successful in Pennsylvania it would encourage the Northern peace movement. He hoped it would get foreign recognition for the Confederacy. It could also force the Union to negotiate for peace, allowing the Confederate states to become an independent country. Lee badly needed supplies and intended to get them in Pennsylvania. In addition to being the state capital, Harrisburg was also the site of Camp Curtin, the largest training camp for Union soldiers. It was a major railroad center. More importantly it was a major supply depot and also a prisoner of war camp.
In the North, Lincoln told Major General Joseph Hooker to have the Union army follow Lee's army. But Hooker was very reluctant to go after the Confederates. Finally, Lincoln lost all confidence in him. On June 28, three days before the Battle of Gettysburg, Lincoln appointed General Meade to replace Hooker. Had the Confederacy won, confederate force would have had access to Philadelphia or Baltimore. Vice President Hannibal Hamlin went to Lincoln to discuss a prisoner of war trade five days before the Battle of Gettysburg.
Neither Lee nor Meade intended a battle take place at Gettysburg and neither were there when the battle started. On June 30, 1863, Confederate General Henry Heth had a division at Cashtown, Pennsylvania, Lee's gathering place before moving on to Harrisburg. Heth sent his division to nearby Gettysburg to look for, as he later wrote in his report, "army supplies (shoes especially), and return the same day." This started the myth that the Battle of Gettysburg started over shoes. Heth did this without scouting ahead to see what was at Gettysburg. The job of scouting belonged to the Confederate cavalry under J.E.B. Stuart. But they had been gone for over a week. So, blind to what was ahead of them, his soldiers ran directly into a Union cavalry division commanded by General John Buford. This started the fighting even though Heth and other commanders were under orders from Lee not to start a battle. But, as each side brought in more troops, it became a full-scale battle. Lee started moving much of his army there. One of his goals was to fight the Union army and destroy it. Now, he would have to do it at Gettysburg.
About 5.30 a.m. on the morning of July 1, the battle started. Heth probed ahead cautiously to a point about two miles west of Gettysburg. Buford's cavalry was deliberately slowing his progress. At about 10 a.m. the Union I Corps arrived commanded by General John F. Reynolds. They set themselves up along McPherson's Ridge to oppose Heth's Confederates. During the fighting Reynolds was killed but the Confederates were driven back. Meanwhile, both sides brought up reinforcements. The Union set up defenses of the town with I Corps defending the western approaches with XI Corps to the north. The flanks were covered by Buford's cavalry. One Union division was held in reserve on Cemetery Ridge. In the afternoon, when Lee arrived, the Confederates still did not know the strength of the Union forces they were facing. They also had not scouted the terrain. One division of Ewell's Corps had attacked the Union I Corps just after noon. At about 2 p.m. Heth's division joined Ewell's troops in the attack on I Corps. At about 3 p.m., another of Ewell's Confederate divisions, commanded by General Jubal Early, attacked the flank of the Union XI Corps. By 4 p.m., both of the Union corps retreated through Gettysburg and took up positions on Cemetery Ridge. So far, the Union had lost about 9,000 men including about 3,000 who had been captured. The Confederates had lost about 6,500 men by this point. So the first day of battle was technically a Confederate victory numbers-wise. But Federal troops held the high ground as more reinforcements were still arriving. Based on the first day's fighting, Lee was convinced he could defeat Meade at Gettysburg.
Late in the day, Lee sent the famous order to Confederate General Richard S. Ewell to take cemetery ridge "if practicable.” While he had been awaiting orders from Lee, Ewell had ridden out to take a closer look at Cemetery Ridge. Based on what he saw and the confusing order, he decided it was not practicable to take the hill and set up camp. Instead, he decided to leave the assault for the next day. This was the first major mistake of the battle for the South. The Army of the Potomac would end the day with around 21,900 men strongly positioned on Culp's Hill and Cemetery Ridge. The Army of Northern Virginia would have around 27,000 men from Benner's Hill to Seminary Ridge.
On the second day of battle, most of both armies had arrived. The Union line held the high ground in a defensive formation that looked like a fishhook. On July 2, Lee ordered General James Longstreet, commander of the Confederate I Corps, to attack the Union left flank as early in the day as possible. At the same time General A. P. Hill's corps was to attack the Union center. General Ewell was to make diversionary attacks and "if practicable" attack the Union Army's right flank. Lee felt that if everything went according to his plan and the Union line was destroyed, the battle, and possibly the war, would be won on the second day. Lee's coordinated attack required getting all the infantry into position and moving up artillery to support them. Longstreet had the furthest to go and midway in their march realized the Union lines could see them. They went back and had to take a different route. Longstreet could not get his corps into position until about 4 p.m. when he began his attack. His attack on the Union line lasted for over three hours but could not break the Union line. Hill's Corps failed to be effective in the center. Ewell did not attack Cemetery Ridge as instructed in Lee's confusing order, but made some progress in taking Culp's Hill.
Union Major General Daniel Sickles, a political general commanding III Corps, disobeyed Meade's orders and moved his troops forward to the Peach Orchard. He had been ordered to take up a position on Little Round Top connecting with Union forces on both his right and left. By doing this he left a large hole in the Union line. He marched to a position nearly in front of the Union line with no support on either side. Within an hour, his entire III Corps was nearly wiped out by Longstreet. Sickles was badly wounded by a cannonball and lost a leg. Being wounded was all that saved him from a court-martial. Sickles' blunder nearly lost the entire battle for the Union.