 | The battle of Gettysburg marked a pivotal victory for the union forces after suffering past defeats at other Civil War battle fields that prompted them to retreat further to the North. Saving the town of Gettysburg from Confederate control blocked the Rebel forces from gaining footholds in the North and subsequently gaining control of much more coveted communities in the North such as Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington. Not initially considering a confrontation with the Union Army in Gettysburg, General E. Lee's Confederate forces crossed into Pennsylvania with the primary goal of finding shoes.
The Union Army of the Potomac, headed by General George Meade, wished to encounter the Rebel Army before the troops marched further North. After spotting the Union Army, the confederate strategists were presented with the opportunity to fight the Union Army now or wait and build a stronghold between the union army and Washington. Feeling unstoppable, The Confederate Army leaders played into General George Meade's hands who desired the battle to start in Gettysburg and not closer to Washington. |
On the morning of July 2, 1863, General Lee ordered the commander of the rebel ground forces, General Picket, to stage an attack on the union troops who he believed to be no match for his conferate army. The first days fight appeared to end in favor of the Confederacy, but the next day proved entirely different. The union troops, headed by General Meade, were joined by reinforcements overnight that raised the troop numbers to over 100,000 strong.
Making a brash move after being led to believe that the union cannons were knocked out, Lee ordered Picket to charge on the union troops. The charge was met by cannon fire using grapeshots, or shells containing iron balls that explode when fired. The unsurrmountable casualties, resulting from the grapeshot cannon attack, forced General Lee to retreat back across enemy lines into Virginia. Much to President Lincoln's dismay, General Meade did not immediately pursue the unsuccessful challenger. President Lincoln believed that if General Meade had followed General Lee's army for another round, the war would have ended even earlier and with a definitive Union victory. Today, people flock to the battle of gettysburg not only for its civil history, but all for the prolific gettysburg ghost stories that will scare the socks off of you!
On November 19, 1963, President Abraham Lincoln visited the site of the Battle of Gettysburg as the special guest for dedication of the sites as a military cemetery. While on the train ride to his destination, Lincoln penned his most famous speech, The Gettysburg Address, which he delivered when he took the stage at the dedication. Even today the Gettysburg Address symbolizes what democratic freedom means to the people. Gettysburg was one of the last battles in the war between the states, while Fort sumter South Carolina is the site of the first shot fired in the civil war.
Do you want to build a miniature cannon with the kids out of house hold materials? The instructions for building a mini civil war cannon from our partner site are great for classroom projects on the battle of gettysburg. We viewed pictures of field cannons from the civil war and designed this great civil war craft. |
| 1. Jennie Wade was the only civilian casualty during the Battle of Gettysburg. Others died later due to explosives left behind and discovered by curious locals. | | 2. Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle during the war with 51,116 casualties. | | 3. Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson often went about camp handing out Sunday school leaflets. | | 4. More than 3,000 horses were killed at Gettysburg | | 5. After the Battle of Gettysburg the discarded rifles were collected and sent to Washington to be inspected and reissued? Of the 37,574 rifles recovered, 24,000were still loaded; 6,000 had one round in the barrel; 12,000 had two rounds in the barrel; 6,000 had three to ten rounds in the barrel. |
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