Robert E. Lee's Plan To Defeat The Union Army At Gettysburg

Robert E. Lee’s plan to defeat the Union army at Gettysburg consisted of sending James Longstreet First Corps to outflank the Union left at Little Round Top and Big Round Top. Lee wanted the attack to take place stealthily and he hoped the attack would roll up the Federal line, and force them to leave their defensive positions. Lee wanted the attack to take place during the early morning. As Longstreet’s men were marching toward their target they had to reverse and countermarch after it was discovered their current path would put them in view of a signal station on top of Little Round Top (Battle). This cost the Confederates valuable time and they weren’t able to mount an offensive until just after 4 P.M. hours later than Robert E. Lee had
Lee decided to launch a massive attack on the Union center at Cemetery Ridge. Longstreet pleaded desperately with Lee to not attack the center, but he thought it was the only way to win the battle so he ordered Longstreet to attack the Union center (Battle). Longstreet would use the divisions of Major Generals George Pickett, James Johnston Pettigrew, and Isaac Ridgeway Trimble. A total of approximately 12,000 Confederates were to advance three quarters of a mile across open ground and breach the Union force at Cemetery Ridge (Ten Facts). During the planning phases of the attack Richard’s Ewell’s troops at Culp’s Hill were defeated by Union forces and withdrew at 11:00
They had hoped to weaken the Union’s infantry and Cannon’s but many of the Confederates own cannon balls missed Union troops. The Union returned cannon fire but stopped so they had enough ammunition for the upcoming Confederate attack. After the cannon attack stopped the Confederates began their charge. It is known today as Pickett’s charge. The rebels suffered devastating losses during the charge because they had to march three- quarters of a mile straight into a dug in Union force that was on higher ground and had cannons. A small Confederate force temporarily breached the Union center, but was driven back by Federal reinforcements. The attack ended in a Confederate retreat and a devastating 6,000 Confederate casualties. The battle was effectively over after Jeb Stuart and his cavalry were stopped from breaching the Federal rear by Union Brigadier Generals George Custer and David Gregg (Battle).
On July 4 Robert E. Lee started a 27 mile long retreat to Virginia. His army prepared for another battle, but Meade’s army did not pursue due to exhaustion and heavy casualties (Battle). During the three days of fighting the Union suffered approximately 23,000 casualties and the Confederates suffered 28,000 casualties. With 51,000 total casualties (dead, missing, injured, captured) the Battle of Gettysburg had the highest amount of casualties of any battle during the