Battle of Gettysburg
1–3 July 1863 · in Battle View, played out step by step on the ground where it was fought
Three-day battle in Pennsylvania that ended Lee's invasion of the North, with the highest casualties of the Civil War.
The sides
- Union, led by Meade: about 94,000 men
- Confederacy, led by Lee: about 72,000 men
States that fought: United States of America, Confederate States of America.
How it went
Battle of Gettysburg
Lee has invaded the North for the second time, hoping a victory on Union soil will end the war. On 1 July his army and Meade's Army of the Potomac stumble into each other at the crossroads town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
McPherson's Ridge
Heth's Confederates march in from the west and find Buford's cavalry dismounted on the ridges outside town. Reynolds brings up the Union I Corps and is shot dead almost at once.
The Union lines collapse
In the afternoon Ewell's divisions come down from the north, Rodes from Oak Hill and Early on the Harrisburg road. The XI Corps breaks, the I Corps is outflanked, and both stream back through town to Cemetery Hill.
Night on Cemetery Hill
The broken corps rally on Cemetery Hill, and more Union troops arrive through the night. By morning Meade holds a fishhook of high ground: Culp's Hill, Cemetery Hill, Cemetery Ridge and the Round Tops.
The Peach Orchard and Little Round Top
On the afternoon of 2 July Sickles pushes his III Corps forward to the Peach Orchard, and Longstreet's men smash into it. On Little Round Top, the Union left, the 20th Maine and others hold off Hood's Alabamians at the last moment.
Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill
At dusk Ewell attacks the other end of the fishhook. Johnson's men take empty trenches on Culp's Hill, and Early's briefly reach the guns on East Cemetery Hill before being thrown back.
The cannonade
3 July. At one o'clock some 150 Confederate guns open on Cemetery Ridge, the greatest bombardment of the war. Behind them Pickett, Pettigrew and Trimble form 12,500 men for an assault on the Union centre.
Pickett's Charge
The guns fall silent and the Confederates step out across nearly a mile of open fields, under artillery and then rifle fire. A few hundred reach the stone wall at the Angle.
The high-water mark
The charge is broken in minutes; about half of those who made it are killed, wounded or captured. Over three days each side loses some 23,000 men. On 4 July Lee retreats to Virginia; he never invades the North again.
Corps and divisions are drawn as single blocks where they fought hardest in each phase; the real lines bent with every ridge and wall.
People and wars
- American Civil War (1861–1865 CE): War between the Union and the Confederacy of southern slave states; the Union victory preserved the United States and ended slavery.