Gettysburg: The Turning Point of the War
On July 1, 1863, the Union Army of the Potomac engaged the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia which had advance into the north. This would be the battle of all battles; it would be the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. Three days of warfare resulted in a Union victory at the cost was 51,000 American casualties. The Southern reason for rebellion was to break away from the Union and become a separate country, the Confederate States of America. Up to this point the rebels were winning battles with the successful leadership of their Southern generals. The Union was in trouble; their armies were getting beaten even while out numbering and being better supplied than their foes. The North, by winning this battle, had crushed the rebel's spirits and had stopped the seemingly invincible Army of Northern Virginia, and had ended the Confederate army terrorizing of the Union. Now history tells that Gettysburg was an important battle, but many people do not know the significance of the end results of this massive battle. Gettysburg was the major turning point in the Civil War.
Some historians argue that Vicksburg and Sherman's march to the sea also were major turning points of the war; they were. The loss of Vicksburg meant losing the Mississippi River. Having the Union in control of the river split the CSA and stopped the flow of men and supplies to needed places in the Southern struggle. The North's control of the river allowed for an increase in Union war resources. Sherman's march to the sea was extremely demoralizing to the South's will to continue fighting. Sherman and his men carved a sixty-mile wide swath of destruction in the Confederacy's heartland. Later, this hurt th...
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...From Gettysburg: Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. New York, Oxford University, 1986
Being for the most part contributions by Union and Confederate officers. Great primary source had a great piece of Longstreet on Gettysburg. But I did not find what I was looking for in it.
Shaara, Michael. The Killer Angels. Crown Publishers New York, 1974
Great background information on the battle very detailed story of Gettysburg. Shows how the battle happened and the mistakes of leaders and the key point of why the battle went the way it did. Used pretty much the whole book.
Wills, Garry. Lincoln at Gettysburg. Literary Research, 1992
Lincolns views on the result of Gettysburg. And his writings after it people and people analyzing them. Had good prologue that I used. I found out a couple things that blew me back, like the one fact I quoted. Page 19
In 1863, the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was awoken to the beginning of what was to be the turning point of the Civil War for the Union. It began as a small skirmish, but by its end it involved so many Americans to which would become one of the bloodiest battles ever taken place on Unites States soil. The Battle of Gettysburg was not only a turning point in the war.
The North and South benefited in many different ways, and both sides would use dissimilar approaches. The Southerners were fighting for a way of life they believed in. Comparing the two, the North had an extensive amount of people which made it easier to establish armies. In the beginning, the Union army only consisted of 16,000 soldiers or less. Southerners deserted the army because they didn’t have the things they needed for fig...
As students, studying battles such as this, we have the advantage of hindsight, knowing the outcome. Nonetheless, we can still learn valuable lessons from it. To do so, this analysis will explore some of the decisions of the leaders at Gettysburg, and how they were affected by the operational variables. This essay will scrutinize some of the leaders at Gettysburg, and the impact of their actions. The outcome of this analysis will show that what was true in 1863 is still true today.
General Richard Sherman’s march to the sea has just finished. After successful capturing Atlanta, Georgia, General Sherman directed his Union army to Savannah, Georgia. Along the way, northerners wreaked havoc on Southern cotton mills and destroy train tracks while completely uprooting 20 percent of Georgian plantations. This effectively halted the Confederate’s means of transportation and economic structure subsequently w...
The Civil War was a major point in American History. It has influenced everyone in America in many ways. The War was conducted in two main areas of the United States. These two parts were in the area east of the Mississippi River and in the area west of the Mississippi River. The control of both of these fronts was vital for victory by either the Union or the Confederacy. On March 8, 1862, a small skirmish at Pea Ridge, Arkansas led to the Union's domination of the west. The Battle of Pea Ridge had a great impact on the civil war by giving control of the west to the Federal forces (Battle).
give the reader insight about anything relating to President Abraham Lincoln in his final days as
The Battle of Gettysburg lead by Robert E. Lee was a three-day battle and was an immense turning point in the war for the Confederate army. Lee had designed brilliant plans for battle, but they were not always fully thought out and executed. Furthermore at Gettysburg Lee’s battle plans seemed to be a big guess or gamble and not really certain at all. Having well thought out
The famous Battle of Gettysburg was a major part of the Civil War. Before the Battle of Gettysburg, the Confederate army had the advantage: however, the events occurring in the months following the historic battle are what truly gave the Union Troops the greatest advantage leading to their victoryThe Turning Point of the Civil War
After giving an introduction of the events leading up to the Vicksburg campaign, you see the reasons why they attacked. To gain full control of the Mississippi River. By discussing Pemberton’s action of moving a majority of his army towards Grant’s army. Resulting in great loss of life and moral for his troops. The communication problems which caused Pemberton’s army to be unprepared for Grant’s fast approaching army. That the capture of Jackson, Mississippi was harmful for the city of Vicksburg. Without supplies running through Jackson they had no way to feed themselves. By then going over the large defenses of Vicksburg and how much it mattered to the Confederates. Then going over the remainder of the war and how Vicksburg’s fall effected it. After all of the researching I found the answer. Without supplies an army can’t function and the Confederates relied on one location for that. The battle of Vicksburg was the most important battle in the Civil War because it cut off the supply route between the two divisions of the Confederates. If Robert E. Lee’s army actually did win the battle of Gettysburg but lost Vicksburg, the outcome of the war would have been the same. A Union victory over the Confederate Army. The Union would most likely still win if it was the other way around but it would have lasted longer. We will never know this for sure but a Gettysburg loss was better than a Vicksburg loss. Most people who do not research into this are taught that Gettysburg was more important. It was important but not nearly as important as the Battle of
... or ending the war, because it was the only rail junction connecting Richmond to the rest of the Confederacy. Faced with the need to defend a line running continuously from north of Richmond to Petersburg, the Confederates were stretched thinner and thinner. Eventually their line broke. Within a little over a week it was over. The final year of the Civil War was something new in the history of warfare - never before had two large armies remained locked in continuous combat for such a long period of time. In the past the armies would fight, retreat, regroup, and usually meet at some later date and place but in 1864-65 even though they moved around some it was almost one continuous fight to the end.
The Battle of Gettyssburg was a turning point because the South was desperately relying on that War for supplies and perhaps help from an outside source. They felt if they would have won that battle they would have been able to win the war when before they were just hoping to hang with the so-called well-prepared Union Army. The North needed a good, hard fought battle on their part because up until this point they had been men handled and out strategized. The Civil War was expected to be a quick battle easily won by the stronger northern army but had dragged on for years.
The Civil War is one of the defining wars in the history of this great nation. The Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle in American history, and a turning point in the four year war. At the time, Gettysburg was a small, quiet town generally unaffected by the war. General Robert E. Lee of the Confederate States of America and General George Meade of the Union converged in Gettysburg, and a conflict quickly arose. After three long days of battle the Union pulled away with a victory, though not an easy one. This essay will outline the six themes of history; in essence the who, what, when, where, why, and who cares of this infamous battle.
In Lincoln, I believe the thesis would be: Abraham Lincoln was a man who was controlled by circumstances rather than determining his own destiny. Lincoln grew up at a farm and if nature intended he would have died in a farm too, but during the times that Lincoln grew up, extraordinary things were happening to the nation in politics and the society. He always despised of farm work and loved to read. "Once he got the hang of it, he could never get enough. (p. 30)" The first books he read were brought from Kentucky when his father re-married to Sarah Bush Johnston. There weren't many books available to Lincoln so he "...read carefully rather than extensively. (p.30)" At a young age, Lincoln was exposed to anti-slavery sentiment His parents moved away from a church because of slavery, even thought Lincoln was never interested in religion. He said once said "When I do good, I feel good, and when I do bad, I feel bad, and that's my religion. (Quote DB)" In 1816 Lincoln's father went to Little Pigeon Creek in Perry County in Indiana to look for a good spot to construct a house. He constructed a "half-faced camp, a rough shelter, with no floor, about fourteen feet square, enclosed on three sides, but open on the fourth. (p. 25)" Years later Lincoln said that they left Kentucky "partly on account of slavery, but chiefly on account of the difficulty in land tiles in Kentucky. (p. 23)" Rapidly growing railroads and canals helped populate the rest of the continent. Lincoln was also affected by family issues.
I was able to better understand how easy it was for English laws to change on a case-by-case basis and see how Virginia changed so many of the English laws not long after the first settlers arrived. Also, reading this book helped me understand the reasons behind the changes. Life in Virginia differed than life in England, giving them a need for different laws in certain situations. Not everything in Virginia could be the same as it was in England. Another thing this book helped me to see was how different things were then, than they are now. Laws have changed so much and we have an organized system of keeping the laws. Also, it seems as if a lot of the laws and court cases back then were corresponding to labor and economy. Lastly, each section helped me understand how men and women were treated differently. Initially, men and women were punished just as much for having sex out of wedlock, but later in the book, women were held responsible and men got away with
Beardsley, Frank. "American History: The American Civil War: Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (VOA Special English 2005-04-20)." Interesting Things for ESL/EFL Students (Fun English Study). Www.manythings.org. Web. 12 June 2011. .