Battle Of Gettysburg Essay

Battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1-3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. This battle had the largest number of casualties of the entire war and is often described as the wars turning point. Union Major General, George Meade’s Army of the Potomac defeated attacks made by General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, which ended Lee’s attempt to invade the North. After his success at Chancellorsville in Virginia, Lee led his army through the Shenandoah Valley to begin his second invasion of the North which was the Gettysburg Campaign. Lee intended to shift the focus of the summer campaign from northern Virginia with hopes to influence Northern politicians

General Henry Heth pushed on cautiously until he reached 2 miles west of Gettysburg. He then deployed two brigades in line and pressed ahead. Around 10:00 a.m., Federal General John F. Reynolds arrived on the field at this point, and determined to engage Herb. He ordered I Corps and Major General Oliver O. Howard’s XI Corps to march Gettysburg. By 11:30 a.m., Heth had been defeated and forced to withdraw to Herr Ridge. Reynolds was killed early in action and field command developed upon Howard. The Federal I Corps deployed to defend the western approaches to Gettysburg, while XI Corps formed up north of the town. A little after noon, Lee arrived on the field. He had hoped to avoid a general engagement since he did not know the enemys strength, and he was not familiar with the area of Gettysburg. Soon after noon, Rodes’s division of Ewell’s Corps arrived on Oak Hill and attacked the right of I Corps. Around 2 p.m. Heth’s division joined in on the attack of I Corps. At 3 p.m., the battle of the town Jubal Early’s division of Ewell’s Corps attacked down Harrisburg Road and crushed the flank of XI Corps. By 4 p.m., both Federal corps were in retreat through Gettysburg to Cemetery Hill. There were over 9,000 losses and around 300 captured compared with the Confederate losses of about 6,500. Day 1s action had resulted in a Confederate