Battle of Gettysburg

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  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  called the Gettysburg Address at the ceremony to open the cemetery and honor the dead soldiers on both sides.

## Background 
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). It was a major railroad center.

In the North, Lincoln told Major General Joseph Hooker to have the Union army follow Lee's army. Vice President Hannibal Hamlin went to Lincoln to discuss a prisoner of war trade five days before the Battle of Gettysburg.  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. Buford's cavalry was deliberately slowing his progress. At about 10&nbsp;a.m. the Union I Corps arrived commanded by General John F. Reynolds. At the same time General A. P. Hill's corps was to attack the Union center. 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 . 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.

On the night of July 2, Longstreet's largest division commanded by General George Pickett arrived and was placed in the center of the Confederate line. Lee's plan for the next day was to attack on both the Union right and left, just as he had done the day before. Lee was still certain he could break the Union line and win the battle. Longstreet had the last fresh division in Lee's army. About 80 Union cannons returned fire. The cannons duel lasted for between one and two hours, depending on the source (most say about an hour). The noise was so loud the gunner's ears . It was probably the loudest noise that had ever been  on the North American continent up to that time. First, Pickett commanded only one of the three units in the assault. Rifle fire from the Union line was . The Union troops used four lines of soldiers. He then told Pickett to rally his division. Pickett famously replied, "General, I have no division."

## Aftermath 
Lee brought an army into Pennsylvania that numbered 75,054 men and lost 22,638 casualties or about 30% of his army. Meade lost so many field grade officers that the Army of the Potomac would not recover for the rest of the war. The wagon train of supply wagons and ambulances for the wounded was over  long.

Meade was severely criticized for not counterattacking Lee after the third day of battle. The next day Meade sent out skirmishers, but did not attack. The next day, on discovering the Confederates had left the battlefield, the Union army cautiously followed. At the Battle of Falling Waters, Lee's army was waiting for the flooded Potomac River to go down so his army could cross. Meade's forces caught up with them there but the battle had no clear victor. The Battle of Falling Waters was the last battle in the Gettysburg Campaign.

## Notes 
## References 
## Other websites 
* Battle of Gettysburg, 1863; YouTube
* If the Civil War Had a Different Ending; The National Interest
* Cannons of Gettysburg; YouTube
* Battle of Gettysburg -Citizendium