Gettysburg Essay

4). So, the plan was for General Longstreet to basically pull the wool over the eyes of the Union by moving away to throw them off as to what their course of action actually was. Once Longstreet finally got into position to start his attack, it was late in the afternoon. The numerous attack points the Confederates have selected, forced the Union forces to keep sending reinforcements to different parts of the line they held. In doing this, the Confederates were able to stretch out the Northern Army’s defense leaving holes in their position. After several hours of battle, the Union was finally able to turn around the last Confederate troops before night fall upon the once peaceful town of Gettysburg.

There were two low ridges that were first defended by the 54th Corps of the Union Army which was commanded by General John Buford. He was reinforced by 2 larger Corps of the Union Army. Soon after, 2 Confederate Corps attacked each side forcing the lazily placed Union troops to fall back through the city of Gettysburg to the hills just south of the city.

Despite this, the Rebel’s morale remained optimistic as they initiated the fighting on the following morning (King 18). Union forces retaliated and saved their position until one of General Meade’s commanders staged his own offensive battle (Appleby, Joyce 486; King 22). This Union general was Dan Sickles. By moving his position without consulting General Meade, a “bulge” was created. This foolish mistake allowed 1,600 Confederate soldiers to rush the Union line to overtake Peach Orchard, capturing 1,000 Yankee prisoners (King 22). Another Union Army general, G.K. Warren, secured and protected a hill called Little Round Top before Confederates claimed it which helped combat the loss from Sickle’s blunder (“American Civil War”).

The three-day Battle of Gettysburg, starting on July 1st in 1863, would be known to be one of the most memorable and important battles in history. It would become the major outcome of the Civil War. The day of the outburst of the Battle of Gettysburg was a hot humid day on the first of July. It was between two sides. One side was the Union, which was the Army of Potomac Commanded by General George G. Meade, along with other notable commanders such as John F Reynolds, Winfield Scott Hancock, Daniel E. Sickles, George Sykes, John Sedgwick, Oliver O. Howard, Henry W. Slocum, and Alfred Pleasonton (“Battle of Gettysburg,” 2016). The other side was the Confederate Soldiers called the Army of Northern Virginia who was commanded by General Robert E. Lee, along with other notable commanders as well, which were James Longstreet, Richard S. Ewell, A. P. Hill, and J.E.B. Stuart (“Battle of Gettysburg,” 2016). Between these two sides, the Army of Potomac had a great advantage with 93,700 men and 372 guns, while the Army of Northern Virginia were outmanned and outgunned with only 70,100 men and 280 guns. The Army of Potomac’s mission was to defeat the Army of Northern Virginia as well as to make sure Washington, D.C. remained safe. It may seem like the Army of Potomac would be the clear winner at the Battle of Gettysburg yet the Army of Northern Virginia had a strategy that would help to attempt to beat the Union which was to go on the aggression and confront them. This would

The Battle of Gettysburg was the turning point of the American Civil war. General Robert E. Lee was the commanding officer of the Confederate army. During the battle of Gettysburg Lee’s military strategy was to fight offensive. Lee’s goal during the battle was to seize the high ground and out last the union army. The Union army had outnumbered the Confederate soldiers. General Lee’s first hand man was General James Longstreet. Longstreet believes the new technology in warfare would make attacking the Union army bloody for the Confederate soldiers. Longstreet suggests to Lee that defensive warfare tactics such as using trenches and rocks for cover and concealment would be the Confederacy’s best fighting chance. Lee denies Longstreet’s ideas and continued with the plan to fight out in the open and attack the enemies head on. After three days of fighting the Confederate army lost the battle at Gettysburg. Lee’s tactical approaches that led to this lost included the lack of communication and the absence of and with General J.E.B Stuart, Lee’s continuation to pursue offensive attacks and Pickett’s charge.

The Battle of Gettysburg was one of the most famous battles of the Civil War. The battle was fought from July 1 to July 3 near Gettysburg. The famous battle was between Robert Lee and his Northern Virginia Army and George Meade and the North's Army of the Potomac, The Union. The original leader of the Army of the Potomac was General Joseph Hooker, but President Lincoln relieved Hooker of his duties and named Meade the new General of the Army. Many soldiers died from both sides during this battle and that is the reason it is known as one of the bloodiest battles. The Battle of Gettysburg was General Robert Lee's second attempt at invading the North and there was a definite aftermath to this battle.

General Meade sent in his reinforcement troops and took many troops from the Union right in order to stop the 1st corps advance. Meade’s reinforcements took positions to fill up the gaps in the center of the Union line, to defend the Union left flank on Little Round Top and to engage Longstreet’s 1st corps as Sickles’ 3rd corps were

Late in the afternoon of July 2, 1863, on a hillside in southern Pennsylvania, Union Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain made history, leading his 20th Maine Regiment in the most famous counterattack of the Civil War. This battle was one of the battles that changed the tide in the war for good. Before the battle, Colonel Chamberlain placed his men on a hill called Little Round Top. The fight for Little Round Top was an intense fight within the larger Battle of Gettysburg. The struggle to control a strategic hill on the battle’s second day became legendary because the bravery of the men from the 20th Main. Once the men were on the mountain they began building a small wall for them to hide behind unfortunately this did not give much protection.

General Jackson’s II Corps attacked during the afternoon of May 2nd. Opposing them was a Union force that had gathered for supper and was wholly unprepared to defend itself. Union forces rapidly withered and routed under the Confederate onslaught, retreating within hundreds of meters of General Hooker’s headquarters. Within several hours of the initial attack, nightfall forced a halt to the Confederate offensive and offered a reprieve for Union forces. Determined to prevent the Union Army from regrouping and consolidating its lines during the night, General Jackson conducted a reconnaissance of Union lines with key members of his staff, in preparation for a night attack. While returning from the evening reconnaissance, Confederate soldiers from North Carolina misidentified Jackson and his staff and fired upon them, wounding Jackson and several other staff officers. Upon learning of Jackson’s condition, General Stuart immediately assumed command of II Corps.

Chamberlain spends the night in big round top, and they are short for food and supplies. Chamberlain starts to overlook the battle, he lost eighty percent of his men in the battle last day, and his aide is in hospital. He realizes the problem that presents in the Union government which is the lack of management. On the other side of battle, Longstreet gets the information from the Goree, the aide of Longstreet, that Union is closed in their right side, and Longstreet suggests Lee is better to move south than to attack the center, because if the back army is divided, their battle line is destroyed, but, Lee does it anyway. Then, he and Longstreet go in frontline of the battle, and the soldiers also tells him that situation changes, Union have more food, soldiers, and war stuffs than they do. Later, he knows that Ewell does not follow the order again, and there is a surprise attack on them to force them back. Longstreet persuades Lee to change the order, Lee refuses it, and he persist on the original plan he makes. On the union side, Chamberlain sees Confederate army moves north. In order to save time for reinforcement, he orders Hancock to attack them with high cost. Also, they anticipate the Confederate will attack the

It was a dark and wet June evening in 1863 when Major General James Ewell Brown Stuart (J.E.B. Stuart) received the order. Maintain contact with the enemy, harass and impeded the northerners if they attempt to cross the Potomac River, and guard the Blue Ridge’s mountain passes. If the enemy attempts to cross the river, cross first and stay on the Confederate’s right flank. The orders were clear enough for execution. General Robert E. Lee often issued orders that gave his trusted subordinates the leeway to conduct operations as they saw fit. Only this time, not even the strategically talented General Lee could predict the necessity of having Stuart’s Cavalry support the Army of Northern Virginia’s advance from the front and flank while maneuvering into Gettysburg.

COL Chamberlain continued to improve his understanding of the situation throughout the battle. He understood that he had to trust his men and rely on his experiences, along with his critical and creative thinking, to devise a plan to hold the Unions far left flank on Little Round Top and defeat the Confederates.

Colonel Chamberlain of the Union army has just heard of the Confederate movement towards Gettysburg. He begins to move his regiment towards. That morning, a group of rebellious soldiers had arrived at Chamberlain’s regiment with instructions to shoot them if

As they were moving back they were shooting at oncoming Confederate soldiers until they were able to get a good space in between them, to where

An interesting turn of events would soon favor the Federal Army as General J.E.B. Stuart and his cavalry were north and east of Gettysburg causing a lot of fear in the North but consequently were not performing adequate reconnaissance, the result was that General Lee did not know where General Meade and the Army of the Potomac were or what their strength was (Freeman, 147). When Confederate General Henry Heth moved into