The Battle of Gettysburg Essay

The three day battle was action packed from start to finish. It all started at about 5:30 am, with a single shot fired over Marsh Creek. After a single shot, all hell broke loose. The Union suffered important losses, most notably the loss of General Reynolds. General Lee arrived on the battlefield near noon, after receiving word of the battle. A single Confederate division drove back two Union brigades, who retreated to Cemetery Hill. General Lee decided to attack the Union soldiers at Cemetery Hill to prohibit reinforcements. General Ewell declined the option to attack, and the first day of battle came to an end. Meanwhile, the Union gathered reinforcements as General Lee feared.

The southern states although far less populated and without initial means to manufacture war supplies did have the strengths to be very competitive. Strong, experienced Confederate leadership in their practiced military, and the overall will power to protect their way of life would prove to be their greatest assets. Jefferson Davis became the president of the Confederacy and was a model leader. He developed a distinguished political career with many years served in the senate, he was a West Point graduate, the former Secretary of War, and a veteran of the Mexican American War. He was the ideal candidate for a president in war times. He had the advantage of having General Robert E. Lee commanding his army after Joseph Johnston was injured in The Battle of Bull run. Robert E. Lee due to strong respect, character and performance in the Mexican American war was Lincoln’s first choice as the Union general but Lee’s patriotism to his home state

     At the beginning of the battle, there were approximately 75,000 Confederate troops and the Union had approximately 97,000. By the end of the third day, there were about 51,000 Confederate and Union soldiers left dead or wounded. Pickett’s Charge has become known worldwide due to the amount of Confederate soldiers involved. In the charge itself, about 15,000 soldiers crossed a mile wide valley towards the Union lines only to be killed or captured when they arrived. The Battle of Gettysburg gave

The Battle of Gettysburg was the deepest push into the North. The South had been defeating the North in almost every battle.

The second phase of the Battle of Shiloh starts as reinforcements from General Buell’s Army of the Ohio and a unit of Grant’s own reserve division joined the Union Army now positioned at Pittsburg Landing. These reinforcements added over 22,500 men to the Union lines13 bringing the total number of Union forces to over 45,000, which is more than they had on 6 April, the first day of fighting.14 On April 7, General Grant renewed the fighting with an aggressive counteract.15 Greatly outnumbered (Confederate forces now around 25,000) and disorganized the Confederate forces now under General Beauregard fought hard but eventually had to retreat to back Corinth.16 The second phase of the Battle of Shiloh was won by General Grant and his Union forces due to two main reasons. The first, Union troop numbers greatly outnumbered their enemy, over 45,000 to 25,000 respectively. And secondly, the reinforcements received by General Grant had not fought the day before and were fresh and excited to fight, unlike the exhausted remaining Confederate troops.17 This was the bloodiest battle fought on American soil up to that point, with 23,746 casualties (Union: 13,047; Confederate: 10,699).18 The Union lost more men but claimed the victory because the Confederate Army retreated back to Corinth, Mississippi.

This battle lasted from May 8th, 1864, until May 21st, 1864. This battle was fought between the army of Ohio, the Army of Potomac, and the army of Virginia. The Army of Ohio and the Army Potomac were teamed up as the Union while fighting against Virginia, the Confederates. The generals were: Ulysses Grant, George Meade, and Robert Lee. This battle was held in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.

At Henry Hill, Gen. Jackson along with several others formed a large defensive line in order to support the disorganized retreated troops. The Union and the Confederates spent the beginning of the battle with their artillery firing at each other. But, the Union lacks the support for their artillery batteries and the Confederates take advantage of that fact. This is where the Union begins to crumble. The Union sends its troops in piece by piece, unable to permanently hold their artillery pieces. While

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 Antietam took place on 17 September 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland. The battle was fought between General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia and General McClellan’s Army of the Potomac. Although the battle lasted only 12 hours, it was a significant point of the American Civil War, as well as the deadliest day in history. Tactically the battle was considered a draw, but the North claimed strategic victory and President Lincoln published the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing hundreds of thousands of slaves.

When an author writes a book he has a message that he is trying to get across to

Over the course of several years there were thousands of battles fought in the American Civil war. Many of these battles were fought at the same time throughout the country. Two of these battles in particular ended at the same time, The fall of Vicksburg and the Battle of Gettysburg. The Union won both of these Battles, giving them an advantage over the south. These 2 defeats gave the union the upper hand because the south retreated and that was the last time they attacked the north. They retreated from gettysburg to vicksburg.

General Lee had at his disposal two army Corps, the First Corps was commanded by Lieutenant General James Longstreet and the Second Corps was commanded by Lieutenant General Thomas Jackson. Both of these corps comprised of 35,000 men for a total of 70,000 men. After leaving Maryland, Lee decided to divide his army by sending the Second Corps to the Shenandoah Valley towards Winchester Virginia and the other towards Culpeper station Virginia in order to see what the North was going to do. The Confederate cavalry were a little slow in detecting the move of Sumter’s grand division, and it was three days before Lee knew about it and could order Longstreet to intercept the Federals. This allowed the first elements of Northern forces to arrive at Falmouth two days after the

In late June 1863, Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia passed through western Maryland and invaded Pennsylvania. General Lee believed that by invading the North, he could draw the Union Army of the Potomac away from their defenses and force them to come after him. He also assumed the people of the North would be so demoralized if the Union were to lose another major battle, especially if it was fought on Northern soil, that President Abraham Lincoln would be forced to negotiate a settlement of the Civil War. On 01 July 1863, then Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, and his 20th Maine received word to begin movement to

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