Henry Slocum Memorial

Early Fighting was on McPherson Ridge

The Battle of Gettysburg which took place from July 1st-3rd, 1863 would be the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. 170,000 men would clash over those three hot days in July and over 50,000 would end up dead, captured, wounded or missing. While both armies were looking for a fight, neither expected it to be in this tiny Pennsylvania town.

After his dramatic victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, General Lee decided to once again push north into Union territory. He wanted a decisive victory on Northern soil to try and force President Lincoln to the negotiating table. Lee marched his Army of Northern Virginia north, crossed the Potomac River and moved through Maryland and into Pennsylvania. The Union’s Army of the Potomac, still under the command of General Hooker, pursued. By the end of June, General George Meade had replaced Hooker at the helm.

Small groups from the two armies met by chance in tiny Gettysburg on June 30th and gunfire was exchanged. The next morning, July 1st, the Confederate army attacked on McPherson Ridge northwest of town, trying to take advantage of their superior numbers. The Union army held through most of the day and then finally retreated back to Cemetery Ridge. The Confederates spread out a mile away on Seminary Ridge and both armies dug in.

On July 2nd, Lee ordered attacks on both Union flanks with General Longstreet attacking the Union left near the hill called the Little Round Top and later in the day General Ewell attacking the Union right at Culp’s Hill. Neither attack broke the Union line, but the Confederacy suffered heavy casualties. The Union had also been hit hard, but they held the high ground and had a rock wall to use as protection much as the Confederates had at Fredericksburg. Lee should have known from that battle how foolish it was to attack such a heavily fortified position and could have withdrawn and waited to fight another day in another place. Wanting a decisive victory and not wanting so many of his men to have died in vain, he chose to remain.

North Carolinians On Pickett’s Charge

The following day, July 3rd, Lee ordered his artillery to give the Union everything it had. The bombardment was so great it was heard 200 miles away in Pittsburgh. The shelling did not cause the damage Lee had hoped, but he ordered his planned infantry attack to proceed anyway. He sent 12,000 men over an open field under heavy fire in an attack we remember as Pickett’s Charge. Some would get within a few yards of the Union line at a corner of the stone wall now known as the Bloody Angle. The Confederacy would suffer 5,000 casualties in the next hour or close to a hundred per minute of the charge. When the line could not be penetrated, the Confederacy retreated and the battle was over. This day is considered the “High Water Mark” of the Confederate Army.

Lee would round up his men and head back to Virginia, never to go on the offensive again. Like his predecessors, General Meade, who had only had command of the Union army for three days when the battle began, chose not to pursue Lee.

The following day, July 4th, 1863, the city of Vicksburg would surrender to General Grant giving the Union control over the Mississippi River which split the confederacy and took out their major supply route to the interior. Soon Grant would come north and take command of the Union war effort attacking Lee at The Wilderness and Spotsylvania which is where I will pick up in my next installment of the Civil War Chronicles which you can find at the link below.

The photos below come from a recent visit to Gettysburg National Battlefield, the site of the bloodiest and most well known battles of the war. Civil War Chronicles will trace the major battles of the Eastern Theater through photos and brief histories. Click on any photo to enlarge it. All photos are available for sale and licensing. For more information, check out the National Park Service’s Gettysburg website HERE.

Defending Cemetery Ridge

121st Pennsylvania Memorial

142nd New York Memorial

Abner Doubleday Memorial - Fired First Union Shot From Fort Sumter, Later Invented S.F. Cable Car

View From Union Defenses of McPherson Ridge

Peace Eternal Memorial

Defenses on Oak Ridge

6th New York Cavalry

90th Pennsylvania Memorial

James Wadsworth Memorial

The Eternal Light Peace Memorial

North Carolina Memorial

88th Pennsylvania Memorial

The Lutheran Seminary on Seminary Ridge

Defenses on Seminary Ridge

Defenses of Seminary Ridge

North Carolina Memorial - Shows The Length of Pickett’s Charge

Virginia Memorial and Robert E. Lee

11th Mississippi Memorial

General Robert E. Lee - The Virginia Memorial

The Louisiana Memorial

Longstreet Memorial

Mississippi Memorial

Alabama Memorial

Devil’s Den From Little Round Top

A Lonely Tree on the Battlefield

Inside the 44th New York Memorial

44th N.Y. on Little Round Top

9th Massachusetts Memorial

General Samuel Crawford Memorial

General Governeur Warren on Little Round Top

The Peach Orchard

New York Infantry Memorial

Barn Along Plum Run

On the Driving Tour in Gettysburg

Minnesota and Pennsylvania Memorials

Father William Corby Statue

Memorials Along Hancock Avenue

The Pennsylvania Memorial

General Greene on Culp’s Hill

Pennsylvania Memorial

New York Memorial

8th Pennsylvania Cavalry Memorial

On the Battlefield

Alexander Webb Memorial

42nd New York Memorial

First Pennsylvania Cavalry Memorial

Defending Cemetery Ridge

15th and 50th New York Engineers

The Bloody Angle

Defending Cemetery Ridge

The Bloody Angle

111th New York Memorial

Soldier’s Memorial in Gettysburg National Cemetery

NY Memorial in Gettysburg National Cemetery

General George Meade Was Given Command of the Union Army Just 3 Days Before Gettysburg

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