"Battle of Gettysburg." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2013. Web. 25 Sept.2013.http:// www.history.com/topics/battle-of-gettysburg This article contains information on the three day bloody battle of Gettysburg, where
Robert E. Lee’s overconfident Confederate Army strived to take down the Unions’. “In May
1863, Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia had scored a smashing victory over the Army of the Potomac at Chancellorsville” (History.com). However, President Abraham
Lincoln succeeded the Army of Potomac’s commander James Hooker and Major General George
Gordon Meade took over. “Meade immediately ordered the pursuit of Lee’s army of 75,000, which by then had crossed the Potomac River into Maryland and marched into southern
Pennsylvania” (History.com).
On July first, Lee assembled his army in the town of Gettysburg. When the find two
Union cavalry brigades had arrived the previous day, as the bulk of both armies headed towards
Gettysburg, Confederate forces drove Federal defenders to Cemetery Hill. Ewell declined to order an attack that Lee wanted on Cemetery Hill. “By dusk, a union corps under Winfield Scott
Hancock had arrived and extended the defensive line along Cemetery Ridge to the hill known as
Little Round Top; three more Union corps arrived overnight to strengthen its defenses”(History.com). Around 4 p.m. on July second the confederates opened fire on the Union corps. Bloody fighting occurred over the next several hours. The Federals were able to hold Little Round Top but lost the orchard and Devil’s Den. “Both armies suffered extremely heavy losses on July second, with 9,000 or more casualties on each side”(History.com)
July third, the final day of the Battle of Gettysburg, started with the Union forces pushing back a Confederate threat against Culp’s Hill after a seven-hour firefight and regained their strong position. Three divisions were then sent against the Union center on
Cemetery Ridge. Lee then led the attack of “Pickett’s Charge”. Barely half of the confederates survived with 28,000
Confederate men killed. “As the survivors stumbled back to their opening position, Lee and
Longstreet scrambled to shore up their defensive lane ager the failed assault”(History.com). Lee waited for a Union counterattack on JUly fourth, but it never came. He withdrew his army toward Virginia that night.
This article gives a large amount of useful information. The information is clear and easy to understand the battle is explained in detail without dragging on. Being able to pick out useful information without having to sort through topics is a key factor when choosing an article. This source will be very valuable when writing a research paper.
Clutz, Jacob, and Elsie Singmaster. "THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG ." Pennsylvania
History. no. 3 (1938): (166-178). http://www.jstor.org/stable/2776630 (accessed
October 9, 2013).
This article tells that the battle fell on a Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. There was excitement in Gettysburg some days before the battle happened. There was a door to door report on July first, warning that the enemy was coming in force. Houses were ransacked by confederates and they took whatever they wanted from the houses, including food. When
General Reynold’s fell in the grove west of the seminary, it was later renamed Reynold’s woods.
When they retreated on Saturday they took the horses of the people who lived there.
Andrews, J. Cutler. "THE PRESS REPORTS THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG ."
Pennsylvania History. no. 2 (1964): (176-198). http://www.jstor.org/stable/27770251
(accessed October 9, 2013).
Forty- Five newspaper men were on the scene to report the battle July first through the third. There were reporters from Richmond, Charleston, Savannah,
Mobile, New Orleans, Memphis, Nashville, and one or two other Southern cites. At least two of the reporters at Gettysburg had had some experience at soldiering, while others were experienced news paper article writers. Five of the writers were college graduates. This tells that the people who were reporting this battle had to be very prepared and credited.
CIVIL WAR TRUST, "Ten Facts About Gettysburg ." Accessed October 9, 2013. http:// www.civilwar.org/battlefields/gettysburg/assets/ten-facts-about/ten-facts-aboutgettysburg.html. Sixty three Medals of Honor were awarded to Union soldiers for their actions at
Gettysburg. General George Gordon Meade was only in command for three days before the battle. General Lee lost 23 battle flags in Pickett’s Charge which was more that he had lost in the previous 14 months. The Battle of Gettysburg is by far the costliest battle of the Civil War but not necessarily the largest. More than one-third of all known photographs of dead soldiers on
Civil War battlefields were recorded at Gettysburg.
Paise, . Oxford University Press USA, "Ten things you didn’t know about the Battle of
Gettysburg." Last modified July 01, 2013. Accessed October 9, 2013. http://blog.oup.com/
2013/07/battle-gettysburg-facts/.
For two years the Civil War was largely concentrated in Virginia. When plans for a northern battle were formulated, they chose Pennsylvania. Stonewall Jackson was accidentally shot by his own troops in May 1863, and Richard Stoddert Ewell was promoted to lead the army of Northern Virginia. During the battle, civilians had to defend their town also. Examples of people are elderly John Burns who took a gun to the streets to defend against Confederates and
Salome Myers who was a school teacher that nursed the various wounded in the town.