2. Battle of Gettysburg
The fighting at Gettysburg was the
largest and most famous battle of
the Civil War.
It marked the South’s greatest
advance into the North - and the
beginning of its eventual defeat
3. Before the Battle
•
Confederates had inflicted a bloody defeat of the Union at
Fredericksburg, VA. In December, 1862
•
North was defeated again in the Battle of Chancellorsville, VA April
30-May 6, 1863
4. Before the Battle
•
Confederate General Robert
E. Lee decides to invade the
North for a second time in
Spring-Early Summer ‘63:
– To gain supplies
– To pull Union forces away
from Vicksburg, Mississippi
which was under siege and
expected to surrender soon
– He hoped that a decisive
victory would force the Union
to surrender before Vicksburg
fell
6. Day 1
• Confederate soldiers led by
A.P. Hill went on a search
for shoes in Gettysburg,
attacked by Union troops
• 90,000 Union troops took
the field against 75,000
Confederates
• Confederates take control
over the town of
Gettysburg
7. Day 2
• Lee orders General James Longstreet
to attack at Cemetery Ridge
• Confederate soldiers attack at an
unprotected Union hill known as Little
Round Top
• Union leaders send Colonel Joshua L.
Chamberlain and his men to defend
Little Round Top
• Because Chamberlain was running low
on fuel, he ordered his men to attack
the Confederates with fixed bayonets.
This surprise attack left Confederates
surrendering in droves.
8. Day 3
•
Lee felt could break Union defenses,
because Union weakened
•
Lee ordered an artillery barrage at the
middle of Union lines mid afternoon
•
•
PICKETT’S CHARGE - Longstreet,
confident the barrage had silenced Union
guns, ordered Confederate troops to attack
the center of the Union lines behind a
stone wall.
•
Northern artillery resumed its fire and
crippled the Confederate attackers, only a
handful of which made it to the stone wall.
•
Lee sent General Jeb Stuart’s forces to
surprise attack Union General Meade’s
forces.
9. Day 3
• Lee had made an uncharacteristic error, as the
Confederates lay defeated he ordered his men
to retreat back south
• The Confederacy never again threatened the
Northern capital
10. After the Battle
• More than 23,000 Union
casualties and 28,000
Confederate Casualties
• Lee turned in his resignation
which Jefferson Davis did not
accept
• The North won the Battle of
Vicksburg exactly one day after
the Battle of Gettysburg ended,
on July 4th, 1863
11. The Gettysburg Address
• Four months later
President Lincoln
visited the battle site
and gave what would
become his most
famous speech
12.
13. Significance of Gettysburg
• Turning point in the war
• Crippled South so badly, Lee never invaded
Northern states again
• Gettysburg Address helped the nation realize it
was not just a collection of individual states
