Battle Of Gettysburg Battle Analysis

On July 1, 1863, the biggest battle of the Civil War started. This most famous and most important Civil War Battle occurred over three hot summer days, July 1 to July 3, 1863, around the small market town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Before the battle, Union general Ulysses S. Grant started a siege of Vicksburg which would shut down the Mississippi River. Meanwhile, major cities in the North such as Philadelphia, Baltimore and even Washington were under threat of attack from General Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia which had crossed the Potomac River and marched into Pennsylvania. The Union and Confederate army both had around 75,000 soldiers. With both armies on a collision course, the days leading up to the war were

On day 2 of battle, Robert E Lee ordered forces to attack on the flanks of the Union by having them engage Cemetery Ridge, a important high ground. On this day the confederate army lost a sum of 6,500 troops while the union lost a total of 8,750. General Robert E Lee was very successful in his attack because he had a scout team that performed to perfection. They reported the round tops and the southern end of Cemetery Ridge were unoccupied by union troops, because of proper scouting and planning the confederate army took the win in a usual case of the defender losing more troops then the attacker.

On September 17, 1862, the Union army attacked the Confederacy, with Union soldiers outnumbering Confederate soldiers 87,000 to 35,000 (Davis, 1999). Lee knew he was outnumbered, so he ordered Jackson’s two divisions to support Hood’s command on the Union left flank, while Walker supported the right (Cannon, 1994). McClellan’s battle plan consisted of simultaneous attacks from the left and right side, with a final attack to the Confederate center. Union Regiment commander Major General Brunside was late in initiating his attack, which threw off McClellan’s entire battle plan. The Confederate forces managed to stabilize their positon, while McClellan reassessed his position. He sent troops to attack the center of the Confederate army, despite staggering small arms fire (Stevens, 1994). The battle ended with overwhelming loses on both sides, leaving the soldiers broken and unmotivated to finish the battle (Davis, 1999).

On June 27, 1864 the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain was fought. The Union Army was currently carrying out Sherman's March. Richard T Sherman was the commander of the Union Army and was going up against the Confederate Army of Tennessee, commanded by Joseph E. Johnston. Sherman was beating Johnston again and again with flanking maneuvers pushing the Confederates back all the way to Kennesaw Mountain. Sherman decided to change his tactics and ordered a frontal assault rather than another flanking maneuver. John Logan and his men assaulted Pigeon Hill while George Thomas led his men on another aggressive attack on Cheatham Hill. Both failed miserably with costly casualties. The Union did however manage to gain position on the Confederate's left flank. With their left flank exposed, the Confederates withdrew. Sherman did suffer a tactical defeat at Kennesaw Mountain but he still managed to continue his march to Atlanta It was a costly battle for the Union because Sherman lost around 3,000 soldiers

The Battle of Shiloh, or the Battle of Pittsburg Landing was fought on April 6 and 7, 1862 in southwestern Tennessee. It was a surprise attack on the Union led by Albert Sidney Johnston, as the Union was waiting for more troops to come in from Ohio. The first day of the battle didn't look to good for the Union. They lost so many men that day, and they decided to stop fighting for the night and continue in the morning. The Union was led by Ulysses S. Grant and he was leading about 66,000 soldiers. The confederate only had 47,000 soldiers fighting. The battle of Shiloh was the bloodiest battle of the Civil war. There were about 23,000 casualties, 13,000 for the union and 10,700 for the Confederates. The Union eventually won because they drove

On November 26, 1862, the Union army arrived in Falmouth, Virginia and across the Rappahannock River was Fredericksburg where the Confederate forces had fortified the hills behind the city. They would stay in Falmouth until December 11 when they bombarded Fredericksburg on December 13 and moved into the destroyed city, but the Confederates were in the hills. The next day the 44th New York, Orsell’s regiment joined the Third Brigade as they attempted to capture the Confederate’s position. They moved through the hills and ravine trying to avoid sniper and cannon fire, but they had to take cover behind a small rise in the ground and spend the night there in the mud. The next morning, December 14, after thirty hours of being in battle the Third

On April 6, 1862 the Battle of Shiloh broke out in Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee. It was the Confederate troops attacking the Union forces. The Battle of Shiloh was one of the bloodiest engagements of the Civil War. The south suffered more than 11,000 casualties and the North with 13,000 casualties. Ulysses S. Grant was the leader of the Union troops and Albert Sidney Johnston was the leader of the Confederate troops. In the battle of Shiloh, the Confederates attacked the Union force hoping to crush them before others arrived. Confederate troops marched toward the Union position without the protection of trees or even foxholes. Every charge was met with a flurry of bullets from Union soldiers using vegetation and mounds of earth as cover.

The Union had two corps led by general Sherman and McPherson at first the battle was only light fighting because of heavy rain at the time but at 11 a.m. and pushed the Confederates back out of Jackson. The loss of the state’s capital was a cause for loss of morale for the defenders at Vicksburg. The union army marched on the Jackson road towards Vicksburg and attack Pemberton’s force on its left. Pemberton then moved his troops on top of Champion Hill. The attack started at about 11:30 a.m. and quickly took the hill and caused the Confederates to retreat to Vicksburg. The retreat got to the Big Black River on May 17 and Pemberton orders three brigades to defend it. The large Union Army quickly caused a retreat and the Confederates set fire to the only two bridges at the site letting the defenses at Vicksburg get more prepared.

Gettysburg was one of the bloodiest battles ever fought in American history. A total of over 46,000 soldiers were lost in this battle. Confederate General Robert E. Lee had beaten a Union force twice the size of his at the Battle of Chancellorsville earlier that year in the spring of 1863. But soon after this battle, he went off the radar. This was until rumors began to emerge that he and his army were marching into Pennsylvania. This caused a major panic. At this time, Union President Abraham Lincoln appointed General George Meade as head of the Union army. Meade had little time to prepare, as it was June 27th, just four days from the battle (he did not know this.) The Union Army had been forced to march for the last two

General Robert E. Lee is greatly outnumbered, causing the confederates to be significantly weakened and forced out of their captured enrichments (pg.302). Longstreet was given 15,000 men to attack the Union's center (pg.309), then the confederates attacked. General Meade was the first to ever outguess Lee, having already anticipated Lee's move the night before, enabling him to be ready for attack. The battle was a strenuous seven hours, coming to a halt at 10:00pm.

Pennsylvania-Battle of Gettysburg, July 1 - 3, 1863, the union won. This battle is considered the most important engagement of the American Civil War. In May 1863, Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia had scored a smashing victory over the Army of the Potomac at Chancellorsville. the first day the confederate outnumbered the union. This caused them to retreat through the town of Gettysburg to the south side of town. The general lee wanted his men to finished off the union troops. However, his men delayed and the Union had the opportunity to dig in and set up their defenses. The second day the Union had around 94,000 soldiers and the Confederates around 72,000. Lee attacked and throughout the day their was fighting, the Union

General Robert E. Lee was leading the Confederacy into many successful battles, and was becoming unstoppable. The moral, at the time, was reasonably higher for the South than the North because of their victories Virginia. Although, after the infamous battle of Gettysburg, the Confederacy was losing hope. Document C shows that General R. E. Lee was distressed and stressed over the substantial loss at Gettysburg. In his letter to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, he wrote, “It is believed that the enemy suffered severely in these operations, but our own loss has not been light...

It is our duty, as soon to be Second Lieutenants in the Army, to learn from history. Learning from mistakes in the past is necessary to understand the responsibilities we will soon have. The Battle of Gettysburg shows prime examples of the nine principles of war: Objective, Offensive, Mass, Economy of Force, Maneuver, Unity of Command, Security, Surprise and Simplicity. In the military today, we are overwhelmingly blessed with every asset that we have including technology and monetary resources the list could go on forever but the most invaluable asset is history. Although all nine principles of war are pertinent to success on the battlefield, only five will be discussed in this analysis.

Johnston originally planned to attack Grant on April 4, but delays postponed it until the 6th. Attacking the Union troops on the morning of the 6th, the Confederates surprised them, routing many. Some Federals made determined stands and by afternoon, they had established a battle line at the sunken road, known as the "Hornets Nest." Repeated Rebel attacks failed to carry the Hornets Nest, but massed artillery helped to turn the tide as Confederates surrounded the Union troops and captured, killed, or wounded most. Johnston had been mortally wounded earlier and his second in command, Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard, took over. The Union troops established another line covering Pittsburgh Landing, anchored with artillery and augmented by Buell’s men who began to arrive and take up positions. Fighting continued until after dark, but the Federals held. By the next morning, the combined Federal forces numbered about 40,000, outnumbering Beauregard’s army of less than 30,000. Beauregard was unaware of the arrival of Buell’s army and launched a counterattack in response to a two-mile advance by William Nelson’s division of Buell’s army at 6:00 am, which was, at first, successful. Union troops stiffened and began forcing the Confederates back. Beauregard ordered a counterattack, which stopped the Union advance but did not break its battle line. At this point, Beauregard realized that he could not win and, having suffered too many

from April 29 to May 6, 1863 as part of the Civil War. To be more precise, the battle of Chancellorsville took place in the vicinity of Fredericksburg where other two battles took place. The Confederate army was led by General Robert E. Lee, while the Union army was led by Major General Joseph Hooker. Impressively, General Hooker’s army was composed with as many as 130,000 soldiers. The Union army was very well trained, equipped, and had all odds in favor. The Union army was two times as big as that of General Robert E. Lee, whose army was composed of merely 60,000-65,000 Confederate soldiers. Of these, 30,000 soldiers were from General Stonewall