Gettysburg campaign

Gettysburg campaign June-July, 1863, series of decisive battles of the U.S. Civil War.

The Road to Gettysburg

After his victory in the battle of Chancellorsville , Confederate general Robert E. Lee undertook a second invasion of the North. The reorganized Army of Northern Virginia crossed the Potomac (June 17) via the Shenandoah valley, which Richard S. Ewell (2d Corps), as leader of the advance, swept clear of Union forces. By late June, Ewell was seriously threatening Harrisburg, Pa., while Lee, with James Longstreet (1st Corps) and A. P. Hill (3d Corps), was at Chambersburg, Pa. However, with the absence of his cavalry under J. E. B. Stuart , which was raiding in the area between Washington and the position of the Union army, Lee was unable to determine the enemy's strength and movements.

When he finally learned that George G. Meade was concentrating N of the Potomac, he ordered the concentration of his own force. Meade, intending to make his stand at Pipe Creek in Maryland, sent ahead John F. Reynolds, commanding the left wing. But on July 1, John Buford's cavalry, covering Reynolds, came into contact with Harry Heth's division of Hill's corps on the Chambersburg pike just W of Gettysburg. The environs of Gettysburg thus became the unintended site of the greatest battle of the war (July 1-3, 1863).

The Battles

The Federals had the best of A. P. Hill's forces until midafternoon on the first day at Gettysburg, when, outflanked by Ewell, advancing from the north, they were driven to Cemetery Hill, south of the town. Meade on the recommendation of Winfield Scott Hancock abandoned his Pipe Creek plans and hurried up his whole force. On July 2, against the Union left, Longstreet led the main attack, which was not delivered until about 4 descr='[PM]'; the Army of the Potomac thus had time to consolidate its strong position. The Confederates took the Peach Orchard but were repulsed when they attempted to seize Round Top and Little Round Top, commanding eminences at the south end of Cemetery Ridge. On the Union right, Ewell carried Culp's Hill but was beaten off at Cemetery Hill.

Meade's counterattack on the morning of July 3 retook Culp's Hill. Lee ordered Longstreet to attack the Union center with George E. Pickett 's division, supported by part of Hill's corps (about 15,000 men in all). After a bombardment of the Union position by the massed Confederate artillery, Pickett moved forward in his famous charge. In the face of terrific artillery and musket fire, the gallant Southerners reached and momentarily held the first Union line. But Pickett's support gave way, and Hancock drove him back with tremendous losses. Meanwhile Stuart's cavalry, in an attempt to get at the Union right and rear, was defeated by David M. Gregg . Both armies, exhausted, held their positions until the night of July 4, when Lee withdrew. High water in the Potomac delayed his crossing back to Virginia, but Meade did not attack him in force.

Aftermath

The Union army, which had been the more numerous, lost 23,000 men either killed, wounded, or missing; the Confederate army lost 25,000 (although that figure is questionable). Both commanding generals have been criticized for their conduct of the campaign—Lee for his unwarranted reliance on unseasoned commanders and his authorization of Pickett's charge; Meade for failing to organize his forces to counterattack and pursue the fleeing enemy. The campaign marked the high point of the Confederate activity during the war; thereafter the fortunes of the South went into a marked decline.

Bibliography

See F. A. Haskell, The Battle of Gettysburg (1898); C. Battine, The Crisis of the Confederacy (1905); J. B. Young, Battle of Gettysburg (1913); D. S. Freeman, R. E. Lee, Vol. III (1935); F. D. Downey, The Guns at Gettysburg (1958); E. B. Coddington, The Gettysburg Campaign (1968); B. Catton, Gettysburg: The Final Fury (1974).

Gettysburg, Battle of (1–3 July, 1863) Decisive campaign of the American Civil War, fought over three days near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Union army of George Gordon Meade checked the invasion of Pennsylvania by the Confederate forces of Robert E. Lee. The battle was a turning point. The heavy casualties (c.20,000 each side) prompted Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.

http://www.gettysburg.com

Gettysburg, Battle of (1863).In early June 1863, General Robert E. Lee marched his 75,000‐man Army of Northern Virginia north across the Potomac River to take the war into Union territory. On 28 June, the 94,000‐man Army of the Potomac under Major General George G. Meade marched into Pennsylvania to stop him.

On 30 June, Union cavalry deployed west and north of the crossroads town of Gettysburg. Uncertain about Meade's intentions, Lee sent his infantry toward Gettysburg early on 1 July with orders to avoid a fight. Nonetheless, the Confederates attacked the Union horsemen and their infantry reinforcements. The Union line north of Gettysburg collapsed in midafternoon. Shortly afterward, another Confederate assault broke stiffer Union resistance west of town. Northern survivors retreated to Cemetery Hill south of Gettysburg. Lee ordered General Richard Ewell to seize that hill immediately, if practicable, but Ewell, in a still‐debated decision, took no action.

Meade's men, arriving at Gettysburg near midnight, established a fishhook‐shaped defensive position anchored on Cemetery Hill, their right flank stretching southeastward to Culp's Hill, their left flank projecting south along Cemetery Ridge toward two hills, the Round Tops. On 2 July, Lee ordered Ewell to threaten the Union right while General James Longstreet, his second in command, assaulted the Union left. Although accused unfairly of slowness, Longstreet's attack ultimately smashed through the Union line at several points. But the key position—Little Round Top—remained in Northern hands when the fighting ended.

On 3 July, abandoning his earlier plan to renew the previous day's attacks on both Union flanks, Lee ordered an attack on the Union center at Cemetery Ridge. An artillery bombardment preceded an attack by perhaps 13,000 Confederate infantry known popularly as “Pickett's Charge,” after General George E. Pickett. The southerners broke the Union line but in too few numbers to exploit the gap. Lee accepted blame for their failure. The southern army began its retreat to Virginia late on 4 July, its wagon train of wounded soldiers stretching for seventeen miles. Total casualties for both armies exceeded 51,000.

Although Gettysburg frequently is called the Civil War's “high‐water mark,” the surrender of Vicksburg, Mississippi, on 4 July 1863 raised far greater interest at the time. President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address of November 1863, active postwar preservation efforts, and well‐publicized reunions between Union and Confederate veterans gave this battle a larger place in American memory than its strategic or tactical importance warranted.
See also Vicksburg, Siege of.

Bibliography

Frank A. Haskell , The Battle of Gettysburg, 1st ed., 1878.
Edwin B. Coddington , The Gettysburg Campaign: A Study in Command, 1968.

Carol Reardon