In the summer of 1863, the Union Forces and the Confederates would meet in a battle that neither General Robert E. Lee nor General G. Meade would have ever predicted, The Battle of Gettysburg, but perhaps fate commanded these two armies together. After three days of horrifying fighting between these armies, the Union forces would ultimately defeat the Confederates, resulting in approximately 51,000 soldiers killed, wounded, apprehended, or lost. Months after the war had taken place, proposals had been in the works for a ceremony to take transpire at the site of the battle to dedicate the sacred land set aside to entomb the Union deceased. Only a couple of weeks prior of this event was President Lincoln asked to attend by Gettysburg attorney David Wills to formally dedicate the Soldiers National Cemetery. The night prior President Lincoln created a …show more content…
On a bright November day in 1863, President Lincoln delivered his speech, The Gettysburg Address, that would influence thousands by affirming the war was about preserving the Union and a nation of equality for all. Leading up to the Gettysburg battle, General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army had been triumphant at various key battles in the southern states. One such battle came at Chancellorsville in Virginia in May 1863. President Lincoln had become frustrated and dissatisfied with his commanding generals and had replaced his latest general again with General Joseph Hooker. As soon as General Hooker took command, he wasted little time pursuing the Confederate Army leader, General Lee. General Hooker quickly positioned his men around General Lee in a town called Chancellorsville. From April 30 to May 6, 1863 General Lee would battle General Hooker’s Union troops, known as The Battle of Chancellorsville. This battle would be regarded as