In this week in military history, we explore the impact and end of the Battle of Gettysburg, which ended on July 3rd, 1863.
After a decisive victory in June 1863 at the Battle of Chancellorsville, General Lee launched his second invasion of the Union in less than a year. Hoping another victory, this one on Northern soil, would force the end of the Civil War, Lee led his army across the Potomac.
On July 1, a Confederate division under General Henry Heth marched into Gettysburg hoping to seize the Union’s supplies. At Gettysburg, they met three brigades of Union cavalry. Soon, both Lee and newly named commander of the Army of the Potomac, Union General George Gordon Meade, sent the rest of their armies to the Gettysburg and the fighting continued apace.
On July 3rd, Lee ordered a massive bombardment of the Union’s center position. For the next hour, the heaviest cannonade of the Civil War raged on, but Lee’s attack was unsuccessful. Confederate General George Pickett’s men were flanked by the Union men, and “Picket’s Charge” was cut down. In an hour, 7,000 Confederate soldiers were killed or wounded.
Lee’s army, weaken and beaten, withdrew, never to invade the North again. The casualties were devastating on both sides - the Union suffered 23,000 killed, wounded, or missing in action and the Confederates had 25,000 casualties. The destruction at Gettysburg was still visible on November 19, 1863 when Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg address at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery.
Join us next time for another segment of This Week in Military History with the Pritzker Military Museum & Library!
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