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Compare And Contrast Union Vs Confederate

1009 Words5 Pages

Caitlyn Epperson
Dennison
History 1301
1 May 2015
Union Vs. Confederate
The Killer Angels a book written by Michael Shaara, published in the 1970’s. The book gives readers a surprising view of the Civil War. After visiting Gettysburg, the author knew that he wanted to write about America’s past. Instead of creating fictional characters Shaara writes about men that played significant role in the American Civil War. People such as Robert E. Lee and Joshua L. Chamberlain were some of the characters the author chose to include in order to add a more interesting historical twist. The Battle of Gettysburg, one of the most important days in American History, a three-day battle takes place in which roughly 50,000 were killed. The story starts out …show more content…

Longstreet points out that the Confederates can easily win the battle because of their defensive strengths and the only way the Union can win is by great offence. Both decide the best option is to try to get between the Confederates and Washington D.C. in order to even have a chance at defeating the Union Army. As the Battle begins, Buford and his men wait for General Reynolds and his troops to come and help fight. Reynolds is killed. As Lee arrives and orders his men to attack, the Union keeps coming as his men are being killed off. He is forced to retreat and day one of the battle comes to an …show more content…

Longstreet on the other hand believes that attacking the Union’s left flank is the smarter and safer plan. The decision is made to attack the Unions flank, a major turning point in the battle, they are lead up to Little Round Top and Big Round Top and the plan does not go exactly how they planned. They realize that the Confederates have shifted and it forced the Union to attack ending in a blood bath for both sides. When Chamberlain finally arrives at Little Round Top and is told that he cannot retreat and they are the only hope. Because the Union still controls Little Round Top, Longstreet’s men do everything they can in order to hold their position and fight off attack after attack. In the end after running out of ammunition they are forced to use their bayonets and charge the Confederates. As the Confederates flee the Union Army realizes the significances of the number of soldiers that have lost. As the battle ends the second day, Lee and his Generals begin to think of the best strategy for what is to come the next day, charge the middle and try to separate the army to weaken them and force them to separate into two smaller

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371 Words | 2 Pages

Longstreet was doubtful at first, but then Harrison convinces him that he has actually seen the Union troops coming to them. Longstreet quickly wakes up General Lee who is the commander of the Confederate army. Then he remembers to tell Longstreet that the head of the Army of the Potomac has changed: it 's now General Meade, not General Hooker.. Lee is also skeptical, since he has sent General Stuart with his horse to keep an eye on the Union army’s each movements. But Longstreet believes that Stuart is out joyriding.

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1103 Words | 5 Pages

The Killer Angels was a book based on The Battle of Gettysburg. The Battle of Gettysburg was a battle that lasted three days. The Battle of Gettysburg is named what it is named because the north won because the names were often what the victor called the battle and the north named battles by nearest town and the south named them after geological landmarks. There are multiple main characters in this book.

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601 Words | 3 Pages

Patterson, Angela History 1301 Gooding, M. October 12, 2017 Charles Reed at Gettysburg In this source analysis paper, I will be exploring the battle of Gettysburg. This clash between the Union armies and the Confederate armies would happen over three hot summer days in July 1863, would be a critical turning point in the American Civil War. This battle was fought from July first through the third and it would have staggering casualties for both sides with the Union losing some twenty-three thousand deaths and the Rebels losing some twenty-eight thousand soldiers. General Robert E. Lee would lead his second advancement into the north to a small market town named Gettysburg in Pennsylvania to search for more supplies.

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1996 Words | 8 Pages

The Killer Angels: Why Did Soldiers Fight? In late June of 1863, General Robert E Lee led the Confederate Army north into Pennsylvania to draw the Union Army into battle. Thus beginning the largest and deadliest battle ever fought on American soil. The 3-day Battle of Gettysburg, from July 1 to July 3 1863, would leave an estimated 50,000 dead, wounded, or missing on the battlefield.

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950 Words | 4 Pages

Secondly and in my opinion what lead to the demise of the Confederate Army, was the fact that General Lee wanted to smash through the opposing Union force in one quick movement, in other words due to the fact he knew he had the superior numbers of the battlefield he wanted to use a more attrition style warfare against the Union and unfortunately for him and his army, the Union was dug in pretty well and had started an ambush on his far left flack. Another key point is that the fact the confederate army had aimed their artillery far too high thus over shooting where they needed to and when the infantry regiments moved in the smaller but more effective Union artillery was able to do massive damage to the troops on the front lines and greatly decreased their numbers, by the time the confederate army reached they Union army and was within rifle range their numbers were just for too small and even though plenty of blood shed was left on the battlefield from both armies, the Confederate army was forced to retreat from the battle thus ending it and giving the victory to the Union Army but at a

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740 Words | 3 Pages

(p. 83). That statement shows right away that Longstreet strategizes and wants to take the defensive and counteract the opposing army. Longstreet believes that for the Confederates to have any chance on winning the battle that the Confederate army needs to take a defensive because of the sheer numbers that the Union army has over the Confederate army. Longstreet is not the only one who believes this, Lewis Armistead strongly believed in Longstreet’s defensive tactics. Armistead tells Longstreet, “I’ve been thinking on your theories of defensive war.

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The Outcome for general lee was that his trusts of a triumphant interruption of the North dashed, Lee held up for a Union counterattack on July 4, however it never came. That night, in overpowering precipitation, the Assistant basic pulled back his devastated equipped power

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622 Words | 3 Pages

“The Killer Angels” is a historical fiction novel published by Michael Shaara and details the Battle of Gettysburg as described by generals on both Union and Confederate sides - all based on real Civil War figures. The story begins with the events leading up to the Battle of Gettysburg. General James Longstreet, second in command to Confederate general Robert E. Lee, is informed by a spy that the Union army is moving, contrary to what has previously been told. Believing they must move north in order to catch the Union army by surprise, the Confederate army begins their journey to Gettysburg. Meanwhile, Union general John Buford discovers the presence of Confederate troops and begins preparing for a potential battle, aligning his soldiers alongside

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1181 Words | 5 Pages

The Battle was fought on July 1-3, 1863 near and in the small Pennsylvanian town of Gettysburg. This Battle involved the most amount of casualties in the entire Civil War. The Union had both Generals George G. Meade and John F. Reynolds while the south only had Robert E. Lee as their commanding general. Small groups of both of the armies found each other at Gettysburg on July 1st. When news made it back to General Lee, in just a matter of hours, Lee moved a large sum of his troops to attack the Union head on.

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733 Words | 3 Pages

The Union had open fire on Confederate soldiers behind a stone wall while Ohio, New York, and Vermont attacked the two enemy sides. Now that the Confederates were under attack from all sides only half of the confederates survived, and Pickett lost two third of his men. As the few survivors came back Lee and Longstreet went to their defensive line along the shore after the failed attack,

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607 Words | 3 Pages

Buford was a crucial person in the Battle of Gettysburg because he helped define the defensive position of the Union. Buford knew that high ground would be the key to their success. As explained, “...so well placed...to frustrate the efforts of the enemy to enter any route without a battle” (Where The Fight Began 9). Buford strategically expelled the Confederate Army back to the Potomac River resulting to a win for the Union. In the novel, The Killer Angels, Shaara states, “He is a man who knows the value of ground” (xx).

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746 Words | 3 Pages

Before this Lee was making all the Union Generals look terrible and then the Union finally got a win. This changed the whole war because then the Union started winning more battles and they would add up and eventually lead to them winning the war. There was no chance of the Union winning the war until this

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791 Words | 4 Pages

In conclusion, after assuming control charge of the Confederate Army in 1862, Robert E. Lee's arrangement was to assault the Union Army and endeavor to deliver such annihilations on the Union Army that Lincoln would become sick of attempting to bring the South once more into the Union and surrender. Lee's arrangements won unsaid backing from Davis, as Lee's goals rotated around the Union Army and didn't require an extended crusade in the North. In any case, these fights, while "effective" were expensive for the South, and large portions of the triumphs were not definitive. For instance, the Army of the Potomac crushed the Army of Northern Virginia in the Battle of Malvern Hill toward the end of George B. McClellan's Peninsular Campaign, and delivered substantial setbacks on Lee's armed force.

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764 Words | 4 Pages

The Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania On July 21, 1861 the first battle of the civil war is fought near Manassas, Virginia. It’s known as The Battle of Bull Run. The union army is under the command of General Irwin McDowell. The confederate army is under the command of General Pierre Gustav Toutant Beauregard.

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670 Words | 3 Pages

The Battle of Gettysburg was a three day fight in which an estimate of 51,000 soldiers were killed in total, but besides all of the casualties, what else makes this battle special? The Battle of Gettysburg was a huge factor in the abolishment of slavery. It is one of the most important battles because it created new war strategies and was the turning point in the Civil War, which led to the Gettysburg Address. The Confederate general, Robert E. Lee, was very confident because of his army utmost victory.

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