The Battle Of Gettysburg During The Civil War

Introduction The Battle of Gettysburg took place during July 1-3 in 1863, and it’s the most well-known battle of the American Civil War. It began April 12, 1861, when the Confederates bombarded Union soldiers at Fort Sumter, which is located in South Carolina, without the knowledge or consent of either army leader, Robert E. Lee or George G. Meade. It ended May 9, 1865, when Robert E, Lee surrendered the last Confederate army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse. The Battle of Gettysburg is the most famous American battle in the Civil War.
The Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg was a battle that took place during the Civil War that lasted for three days. It is known as by far the costliest battle of the Civil War, but not
Lee was trying to collect supplies in abundant Pennsylvania farmlands, and move the fighting away from Virginia. Inspired by his success at Chancellorsville, Confederate General Robert E. Lee decided he was going to invade the North. According to Civil War Trust, a website devoted to Civil War facts, Robert E. Lee wanted to “threaten Northern cities”, “weaken the North’s appetite for war” and, especially, “win a major battle on Northern soil and strengthen the peace movement in the North” (n.d.). Lee wanted to threaten the Northern cities because all of the battles had been fought in the South. He wanted the war to come to an end because the South was losing this war of attrition. If the two armies fought a battle on Northern soil and won it, then the Northern armies would finally realize what the South had felt all along. The South had endured destruction of their homeland, and now the North would experience that as well. By invading the North, the public would pressure the government into peace. A victory at Gettysburg would also convince England and France, who relied on Confederate cotton, to support the South’s cause. However, Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade found out Lee had moved his army to Pennsylvania, and he moved his army Northward to Gettysburg, then they collided and started
Brig. Gen. J. Johnston Pettigrew’s brigade of Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill’s Third Corps offered into the crossroads hamlet of Gettysburg, where they ran into a large group of Union soldiers. The Confederate soldiers not expecting their presence in the area, both Pettigrew and Maj. Gen. Henry Heth, supposed the horsemen to be a part of Pennsylvania militia. Regardless of Lee’s orders to ignore an engagement until the army was focused, Heth ordered two of his groups to commence a reconnaissance in force at first light. Meade arrived at Gettysburg, sometime that night, firm to make a stand. Brig. Gen. John Buford slowed the Confederate advantages until the Union infantry arrived. Lee planned a concentrated attack in the late afternoon, and his men swamped the Union soldiers that were positioned on McPherson’s Ridge, which made them reassemble on Cemetery Hill. Hills or places of elevation were extensively used because whoever was at the top had an advantage since they could see everything that was going on below them. The Union general, Winfield S. Hancock, arrived shortly after and “sent a favorable report on the terrain to Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, who ordered the entire army to concentrate at Gettysburg.” Later that night, reinforcements for both the Union and Confederate army arrived. Though it is portrayed that there wasn’t much fighting going on, on the first day,