Battle of Gettysburg

When Robert E. Lee crossed into Pennsylvania in June 1863, he believed the Army of Northern Virginia could win a decisive battle on Northern soil—one that might convince foreign powers to recognize the Confederacy and fracture Northern resolve. On July 1, Confederate forces stumbled into the Union Army of the Potomac near the town of Gettysburg, setting off three days of fighting that would leave 51,000 men dead, wounded, or missing.

The first day saw Confederate forces under A.P. Hill drive back Union cavalry under John Buford and infantry under John Reynolds, who was killed in the fighting. But Union reinforcements arrived throughout the day, and by evening, Major General George Meade—who'd taken command of the Army of the Potomac just three days earlier—had positioned his forces on high ground south of town. On July 2, Lee attacked both flanks in fierce fighting at Devil's Den, the Peach Orchard, and Cemetery Ridge, but failed to break the Union line. Meade's artillery dominated the heights.

The battle's climax came on July 3 with Pickett's Charge, the famous assault on Cemetery Ridge led by George Pickett and preceded by the largest artillery bombardment of the war. Nearly 15,000 Confederate soldiers advanced across open ground into a withering crossfire. They crested the Union line briefly before being repulsed with staggering losses. Lee had no reserves left. By evening, he ordered a retreat.

Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle in American history and the turning point of the war. Lee's invasion had failed completely; his army, while still dangerous, would never again threaten Northern territory. Meade didn't pursue aggressively enough to destroy Lee's force entirely—a decision Lincoln found frustrating—but the Union had broken the Confederacy's momentum and proved it could defeat Lee in open battle. Three months later, in November 1863, Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the cemetery there, reframing the war as a struggle for human equality rather than mere Union preservation.

The casualties were staggering: 23,000 Union soldiers and 28,000 Confederate soldiers killed, wounded, or missing. Both sides had thrown their full strength into the fight. Gettysburg ended any realistic Confederate hope of foreign intervention or negotiated peace from a position of strength. It opened the path to Sherman's invasion of Georgia and Grant's grinding campaign toward Richmond.