On the third day of the
Battle of Gettysburg, Confederate General
Robert E. Lee's last attempt at breaking the Union line ends in disastrous failure, bringing the most decisive battle of the
American Civil War to an end.



In June 1863, following his masterful victory at the
Battle of Chancellorsville, General Lee launched his second invasion of the Union in less than a year. He led his 75,000-man Army of Northern
Virginia across the Potomac River, through
Maryland, and into
Pennsylvania,
seeking to win a major battle on Northern soil that would further
dispirit the Union war effort and induce Britain or France to intervene
on the Confederacy's behalf. The 90,000-strong Army of the Potomac
pursued the Confederates into Maryland, but its commander, General
Joseph Hooker,
was still stinging from his defeat at Chancellorsville and seemed
reluctant to chase Lee further. Meanwhile, the Confederates divided
their forces and investigated various targets, such as Harrisburg, the
Pennsylvania capital.


On June 28, President
Abraham Lincoln
replaced Hooker with General George Meade, and Lee learned of the
presence of the Army of the Potomac in Maryland. Lee ordered his army to
concentrate in the vicinity of the crossroads town of Gettysburg and
prepare to meet the Federal army. At the same time, Meade sent ahead
part of his force into Pennsylvania but intended to make a stand at Pipe
Creek in Maryland.


On July 1, a Confederate division under General Henry Heth marched
into Gettysburg hoping to seize supplies but finding instead three
brigades of Union cavalry. Thus began the Battle of Gettysburg, and Lee
and Meade ordered their massive armies to converge on the impromptu
battle site. The Union cavalrymen defiantly held the field against
overwhelming numbers until the arrival of Federal reinforcements. Later,
the Confederates were reinforced, and by mid-afternoon some 19,000
Federals faced 24,000 Confederates. Lee arrived to the battlefield soon
afterward and ordered a general advance that forced the Union line back
to Cemetery Hill, just south of the town.


During the night, the rest of Meade's force arrived, and by the
morning Union General Winfield Hancock had formed a strong Union line.
On July 2, against the Union left, General
James Longstreet
led the main Confederate attack, but it was not carried out until about
4 p.m., and the Federals had time to consolidate their positions. Thus
began some of the heaviest fighting of the battle, and Union forces
retained control of their strategic positions at heavy cost. After three
hours, the battle ended, and the total number of dead at Gettysburg
stood at 35,000.


On July 3, Lee, having failed on the right and the left, planned an
assault on Meade's center. A 15,000-man strong column under General
George Pickett
was organized, and Lee ordered a massive bombardment of the Union
positions. The 10,000 Federals answered the Confederate artillery
onslaught, and for more than an hour the guns raged in the heaviest
cannonade of the
Civil War.
At 3 p.m., Pickett led his force into no-man's-land and found that
Lee's bombardment had failed. As Pickett's force attempted to cross the
mile distance to Cemetery Ridge, Union artillery blew great holes in
their lines. Meanwhile, Yankee infantry flanked the main body of
"Pickett's charge" and began cutting down the Confederates. Only a few
hundred Virginians reached the Union line, and within minutes they all
were dead, dying, or captured. In less than an hour, more than 7,000
Confederate troops had been killed or wounded.




Both armies, exhausted, held their positions until the night of July
4, when Lee withdrew. The Army of the Potomac was too weak to pursue the
Confederates, and Lee led his army out of the North, never to invade it
again. The Battle of Gettysburg was the turning point in the Civil War,
costing the Union 23,000 killed, wounded, or missing in action. The
Confederates suffered some 25,000 casualties. On November 19, 1863,
President Lincoln delivered his famous
Gettysburg Address
during the dedication of a new national cemetery at the site of the
Battle of Gettysburg. The Civil War effectively ended with the surrender
of General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia in April 1865.
Taken from:
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history [03.07.2012]
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