Battle of GettysburgJuly 1-3, 1863

3 events prior to invasion:

1. Southern command adjustments

Longstreet A.P. Hill Ewell

Northern command problems:

McDowell McClellan Pope

Burnside Hooker

Meade

Battle of Brandy Station

J.E.B. Stuart

Role of Cavalry:

1. Act as a screen- keep opposing cavalry away from infantry movements

2. Gather intelligence- troop strength/disposition; info on geography

3. Heavy fighting usually done by infantry

Lee’s Reasons to invade:

1. Take fight into northern areas- let them feel “real” sting of war

2. Respite for farmers in N. Va.- Live off the fat of Md. and Pa. farms

3. Foster support for the anti-war factions in the North

4. Gain international recognition- especially from England/France

Geography:

South Mountain

Hills around Gettysburg

Culp’s Hill

Wesley Culp

Cemetery Hill

Little Round Top

Big Round Top

Ridges around Gettysburg:

• Cemetery• Seminary

Devil’s Den

Peach Orchard

The Wheatfield

Why Gettysburg?

1. Shoes2. Accidental

July 1st

John Buford, USA Henry Heth, CSA

Robert E. Lee, CSA John Reynolds, USA

• Begins with Heth clashes with Buford outside (west) of Gettysburg

• Lee does not want a full engagement but was not close enough to Gettysburg to prevent it from happening

• Race to get the troops on the field• Morning goes to union, BUT Reynolds is killed• Ewell comes back from the north- pounds

Union forces• Union retreats to Cemetery Hill and Ridge• Belatedly occupies Culp’s Hill

• Ewell rejects Lee’s “suggestion” to take Culp’s Hill

• Meade decides to stay and fight and not retreat to Big Pipe Creek

July 2nd

• Morning lull

• Lee and Longstreet at odds on strategy

• Longstreet waits for core to come up, didn’t have all his divisions

Afternoon, July 2nd

roughly 3 or 4 o’clock

• Ewell to demonstrate in force at Culp’s Hill- does little other than bombard

• Trip hammer blows to hit the Union left

McLaws Hood Wilcox Barksdale

Fight for Little Round Top

Joshua Chamberlain20th Maine

William C. Oates

15th Alabama

Gouverneur Warren, USA

Fight for: Devils Den, Peach Orchard and Wheatfield

• Sickles’ dumb move

• Union eventually pushed back to Cemetery Ridge

Devil’s Den

Peach Orchard

The Wheatfield

• Ewell belatedly attacks Culp’s Hill at dusk

• Fighting dies down at around 10pm

Ewell

July 3rd

• Battle for Culp’s Hill restarts at first light• Confederates pushed off after 3hr battle• 1pm- Cavalry battle 3miles from battlefield,

Stuart prevented from getting behind Union lines by David Gregg

• 90 minute Confederate bombardment of Union positions

George Pickett

Cemetery Ridge, copse of trees

Lewis Armistead, CSA James Kemper, CSA Richard Garnett, CSA

E. Porter Alexander, CSA Winfield Scott Hancock, USA

• Pickett’s charge immediately following bombardment

• Approximately 12,000 men charge center of the Union Lines- Angle and Copse of Trees

• Few penetrate, roughly 100, and are quickly overwhelmed

• The rest thrown back with major casualties