Civil War Turning Point Essay

This week’s topic should defiantly bring difference in opinions about a turning point of the Civil War. I am going to throw out there that in my opinion a turning point in the war was not reliant on one battle, one executive order, or one weapon evolution, but a combination these complimenting each other lead to a turning point movement for a lack of a better term. I suggest that Gettysburg is a major event in the Union’s favor, but if left standing alone without events such as the victory at Antietam and Vicksburg it would have just been a major victory for the Union. I also believe that the Union did create a weapon evolution with their rifles with the introduction of the Spencer Repeating Rifle. Not one battle can be attributed to the defeat of the Confederacy, but a series of victories and evolutions that undermined the Confederacy’s ability to wage war and replace its most valuable assets, men. I will start
The Battle of Gettysburg on July 1-3, 1863 was a result of General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia being intercepted by General Meade’s Army of the Potomac.4 The purpose of the Confederacy invading so far north was to take pressure off their farms in Virginia during growing season and to also bring a defeat to the Union on their home territory post Antirtam.5 The defeat of the Confederates at Gettysburg was a morale boost for the Union and a continuation of forward momentum in defeating the Confederacy in major battles. The loss was also a major demoralizer for the Confederacy and signified the loss of momentum in the war and in concert with the loss at Vicksburg, Mississippi on July 4th.6 With two major defeats for the Confederacy in two separate regions was a major blow to its ability to wage war along with its loss of expected support from foreign nations due to the snowball effect from the Emancipation