Gettysburg+Battlefield

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Gettysburg is located in Pennsylvania. The Battlefield is now a National Park, which is still preserved to this day. (The picture above is a map of the battefeild today.) The Battle of Gettysburg started as an innocent attempt for Lee's troops to get some shoes. What Lee's army didn't know was the North was waiting for them. ​

As you can see from these two pictures, the South (red) attacked the North (blue), and eventually the South drove the North off of Oak Ridge.



July 1st The battle began at 5:30 a.m. NW of Gettysburg at Marsh Creek. General Henery Heth reached a point about two miles west of Gettysburg where he sent two brigades in line and marched on. General Reynolds of the North was in command of I corps, arrived at about 10 a.m., and was ready for battle. He ordered his troops and General Howards troops to Gettysburg. Once they were there, the engaged with Heth along McPherson's Ridge. By 11:30 a.m., Heth had be defeated and retreated to Herr Ridge. In the early action of war, General Reynoldswas killed, and he was taken over by Howard. This was about the time that both the North and the South were taking in reinforcements. The North's I corps defended the western approached to Gettysburg, while the XI Corps formed up North of the town. Buford's troops covered the flanks. Howard then had a simple stratagey for Cemetery Hill... Delay the Confederates long enought to enable the rest of the Northern army to concentrate. General Lee arrived around noon. He had initially hoped to avoid a general engagement because the strength of the enemy was unknown, and the Gettysburg was unfarmiliar to him. But soon, Rodes's division arrived on Oak Hill and attacked. At 2 p.m. Heth's division jone the attack. At 3, the battle had spread north of the town when Jubal Early's division attacke down Harrisburg Road. Around the same time, Pender's division relieved Heth and assulted I Corps' position along Seminary Ridge. By 4 p.m., both Northern Corps were in retreat throught Gettysburg to Cemetery Hill. The casualtie for the day were about 12,000 for the North, and about 6,500 for the South.







July 2nd With his success on the first day, Lee was now encouraged to renew the battle for a second day. In the morning, it came to Lee's attention that the North line did not reach as far south as Little Round Top. So, Lee directed two corps and A.P. Hill's corps (about 20,000 men in total) to march south until they reached the flank of the North forces and here is where they would attack. What the South didn't know was the Federal army was well prepared for the attack. Six of the seven corps had reached the battlefield. Meade had launched his army in a fish-hook-shaped formation, with the right on Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill, the center along Cemetery Ridge, and the left on Little Round Top. The left of the line was in the command of General Daniel Sickles's troop. Sickles didn't like his posistion on the battlefield and, without orders, advanced his line about a half mile west so he could take advantage of the high open ground. After Sickles reached his new position, the South attacked. Third Corps was hard pressed and Meade sent Five Corps and part of Eleven Corps to reinforce Sickles. But, the South still broke through, which broke Sickles entire line. The South then went to Little Round Top. Farther North, more Confederate troops marched to Cemetery Ridge. On the Federal right, Ewell did not attack the South until the evening, after Longstreet's assult had subsided. The attack on Cemetery Hill was unsuccessful. Ewell's attacks were also repulsed at Culp's Hill. The days casualties ended at about 9,000.







July 3rd General Lee's confidence was extremely high from July 2nd. The night of July 2nd, he odered Longstreet, who was reinforced by General Pickett's troops, to assault the left of the North line. Simultaneously, Ewelll, who was also reinforce, was to charge Culp's Hill. Meanwhile, Mead had determined to hold his postion and wait for Lee to attack. However, at Culp's Hill, he allowed XII Coprs to drive Ewell's forces out of the captured Federal trenches at daylight. The North's effort opened with a conentrated artillery bombardment which became a large battle. With Ewell areday fighting, Lee rode to Longstreet to observe his preparations for the attack on the Federal left. Longstreet had misunderstood his orders and was planning a movement to turn the Federal left. Lee's hope for a coordinaed atack was now gone, and Lee was forced to change his plans. He was ging to shift his main attack to the federal center on Cemetery Ridge. Longsstreet was placed in command of the plan. The plan was first to subject the Federal psition to bombardment by about 140 cannon, the to send Pickett, Pettigrew, and half of Trimble's troops, approximately 12,000 men, forward to the Federal center. While Longstreet made his preparatio during the morning, Ewell's forces were defeated in their conterattacks on Culp's Hill, and withdew around 11 a.m. At 1 p.m., Longstreet opened the great attack of the Federal line. The North replied with about 80 cannon and a giant duel ensued which lated for nearly 2 hours. After the bombardment subsided, the infantry marche forward. This charge is known throughout history as "Pickett's Charge", and is said to be one of the biggest mistakes a general had made in war. Federal artillery, followed by musketry, cut the South's formation into pieces and inflicted devastating losses. A small Confederate force effected one small penetration of the Federal line, but was very overwhelmed. The attack ended in a diaster, with nearly 5,600 Confederate casualties. After this, Lee's army with never be the same. The total casualties for the battle ended with about 23,000 Federal and 20,000-28,000 Confederate.

Important Places on Gettysburg Battlefield: Little Round Top: The smaller hill of two rocky hills south of Gettysburg. Devil's Den: The nickname for a terrain south of Gettysburg. It is mad of piles of rocks which make it look like a den. Culp's Hill: A terrain feature in Gettysburg overlooking downtown. It had lots of wood on it, so it wasn't necessarily the best terrian. Cemetery Hill: A piece of terrain used mostly by the Union army's defensive line. Its gentle slopemade it an great defensive ground. Cemetery Ridge: A piece of terrain that was the center of the Union's "fish hook." It rises about 40 ft. above the surrounding land and is under 2 miles in length.

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