Gettysburg

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Gettysburg

    Fought July 1 through July 3, 1863, considered by most military historians the turning point in the
American Civil War. The Battle of Gettysburg was a decisive engagement in that it arrested the
Confederates' second and last major invasion of the North, destroyed their offensive strategy, and forced
them to fight a defensive war in which the inadequacies of their manufacturing capacity and transportation
facilities doomed them to defeat.
The Army of the Potomac, under the Union general George Gordon Meade, numbered about 85,000; the
Confederate army, under General Robert E. Lee, numbered about 75,000. After the Battle of
Chancellorsville on May 2 to 4, an important victory for the Confederates, Lee divided his army into three
corps, commanded by three lieutenant generals: James Longstreet, Richard Stoddert Ewell, and Ambrose
Powell Hill. Lee then formulated a plan for invading Pennsylvania, hoping to avert another federal
offensive in Virginia and planning to fight if he could get the federal army into a vulnerable position; he
also hoped that the invasion might increase Northern war-weariness and lead the North to recognize the
independence of the Confederate States of America. In pursuit of this plan, Lee crossed the Blue Ridge
Mountains, proceeded up the Shenandoah Valley, and, crossing Maryland, entered Pennsylvania. Upon
learning federal troops were north of the Potomac, Lee decided to concentrate his who!
le army at Gettysburg.
On June 30, Conf...

Submitted by: digitalessays
Date Submitted: 01-01-09 8:11am
Category: History
Words: 802
Pages: 3.21