The Battle of Gettysburg

The Battle of Gettysburg

The beginning of the campaign of Gettysburg began after Lee won in Chancellorsville. He knew that if the South were to win a decisive battle in the North then European powers might shift in favor of the South and they might begin helping them. Lee also needed supplies and food for his army which the North had plenty of.

Before Lee invaded though, he had to go to Richmond, Virginia and consult the President of the South, Jefferson Davis. It did not take much convincing to get Jefferson Davis to believe that invading the North would be a smart and logical idea.

Before Lee left he reorganized his army by putting four cavalry divisions under the command of James Ewell Brown Stuart (Jeb Stuart). On June 3rd Lee began marching his army toward Culpepper, Va.

The Confederate (CS) Army was composed of 60,000 soldiers which were in three divisions. The Corps I was under the command of James Longstreet. The Corps II was commanded by General Richard S. Ewell. And the Corps III was commanded by Lieutenant General Ambrose Powell Hill (A.P. Hill).

The Union Army was under the command of General Hooker who resigned before the battle of Gettysburg and then under the command of General Meade. The Union army had 100,000 soldiers and 1 cavalry division.

There were six battles in the campaign of Gettysburg before the actual battle in Gettysburg, PA. These Battles were the battle of Brandy Station, the battle of Winchester and Stephenson's Depot, the battle of Middleburg and Upperville, the battle of Aldie, and the battle of Falling waters.

The battle of Brandy Station began on June 9th, when Federal cavalry divisions broke through Confederate lines and rode toward Brandy Station. Major Cabell E. Flouroy of the 6th VA woke up and heard the cavalry charging toward them. He rousted 100 soldiers and foolishly charged the cavalry. He then retreated because he was losing. Jeb Stuart heard a gunshot and sent his cavalry to safety in Culpepper. When the battle was over at 4 P.M., 866 Federal troops were killed and only 523 Confederates were killed. The Confederate causalities included Lee's son who was shot in the thigh in the fighting but didn't die.

The Battle of Winchester took place on June 13. Lee sent Ewell's Corps II ahead of the rest of the Confederate Army to Winchester. The Union Commander at Winchester was named Milr...

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... was going to do was suicide for his men. Picketts men were ordered to move silently through the woods before the angle. The US troops saw the Cs troops coming but waited fro the last possible second to fire. When Pickett came out of the woods his men were being knocked down by Union guns. Picketts men moved across the Emmittsburg Rd. to the angle. Only a small part of his charge was effective. The Union line was not broken but if it had been then Meade would have most likely been killed because his headquarters were 1/8 of a mile past the Union line. Picketts men began to retreat after they realized a hole could not be made in the Union line. The battle ended July 3rd. Pickett lost 7,00 men in the charge.

The aftermath of Gettysburg was astonishing. 150,000 men went into the battle and 50,000 of them died. There were 5,000 dead horses. There were so many dead horses the people of Gettysburg had to pile the bodies and burn the horses. The US lost 23,049 men. There was only one civilian casualty. It was a woman who was kneading dough in her kitchen when a bullet pierced through two wooden doors and killed her instantly. General Meade would be replaced by General Grant later on.