Battle of Gettysburg

The Gettysburg Address was delivered by President Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863. Given during Lincoln's visit to the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, just a few months after a major Civil War battle had occurred there, the Address has since taken on significance as a timeless expression of noble truths concerning sacrifice and dedication on behalf of democratic ideals.

General Grant was determined to crush the Confederate troops. He was tired of the long war and sought to end it as soon as possible. Many people in the North objected to the large number of Union casualties. Mary Todd Lincoln called Grant a butcher. Nevertheless, at war's end he was the hero of the North and he was rewarded with election to the US presidency in 1868.

Confederate General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia were planning to make a significant raid on Harrisburg Pennsylvania. Northern forces of the Army of the Potomac were sent to not allow that to happen. By strictly chance the two opposing armies met at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It was a three day battle in which the North and Union General George Meade won. This forced Lee to retreat back to Virginia.

He was tall, a brilliant man, a great leader, and an even better engineer! He was soft spoken but rigid in military discipline. He loved his state and his family and was a Christian by religion. He was a hero of the Mexican War and lead the marines that captured John Brown at Harpers Ferry. Had Virginia stayed in the union he would have been commander of their army after Winfield Scott retired.

The first battle was indeed Fort Sumter, but two Federals died during the surrender ceremony when their cannon blew up. Bull Run (AKA Battle of Mananas) was the 3rd battle of the war after the Battle of Rich Mountain where 40 Union soldier were killed and 140 Rebels. They were the first direct casualties including the first officer killed.

No. Although Longstreet was raised by his uncle, who was a state's rights advocate, James Longstreet did not support slavery. It is believed that the Longstreet family owned some slaves, but there is no evidence that James Longstreet himself ever owned a slave. Longstreet was a career military man and thought slavery was an evil institution. He mainly joined the Confederacy because the state of Alabama paid for his schooling at West Point and felt that he owed them. After the war, he became a Republican and actively supported civil and voting rights for African-Americans, which angered many Southerners. He spoke out against racism and did everything he could to end white supremacy. When he lived in Louisiana, President Grant (who was a very close friend to Longstreet since their days at West Point) allowed Longstreet to use African-American troops to stop the the violence there.

Many felt unsettled, confused, lost in a world that was now unfamiliar to him because of all the changes the US had gone through, uncertain about their present and futures and some suffered from terrible Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. They often were so different than they had been when they went to war their own relatives, wives and children could not understand why they were so different. Many ended up in divorces because they had changed too much or were too sick from PTSD. Some adjusted well. They went back to work or off to college. Some never adjusted and are still messed up 60 plus years later.

Non-whites were very hurt and angry when they returned to the southern states. They were treated like dirt even after they were heroes and risked their lives for the United States. Segregation failed to acknowledge their accomplishments and sacrifice. Eventually the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s corrected some of the problem (not of the heart and mind of the racists). Many did not get awarded much deserved medals and some got them very late in life.

In the last week of June 1863 the Army of Northern Virginia CSA, General R.E. Lee commanding, crossed the Potomac river, traversed the narrow Maryland corridor and invaded the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Immediately upon entering that state the ANV separated into three corps and roamed freely through Pennsylvania, reaching as far as Harrisburg. On 30 June Lee, deprived of cavalry screens, learned through spies that the Union Army of the Potomac was in hot pursuit. Caught with his three corps scattered over 80 miles of central Pennsylvania, he immediately ordered his corps commanders to reunite at either Cashtown, which was excellent defensive ground, or at Gettysburg, where all the roads in south central Pennsylvania converged. It was indeed at Gettysburg where AP Hill's Corp, CSA, ran headlong into the Union cavalry screens. Both sides rushed forces to that place with all speed in order to prevent being defeated piecemeal. For that reason the Battle of Gettysburg is called the classic "Meeting Engagement" where two armies literally run into each other. The battle happened in that place because it was the major crossroad.

During the Battle of Gettysburg in July of 1863, the short-term objective for each side was to hold with superior force the field of battle at its conclusion. Holding the field would contribute powerfully to the long-term objectives of the combatants: for the South, continuing their invasion of the North; for the North, blocking the Southern advance and perhaps even initiating offensive action of their own.

The battle of Appomattox took place at Maryland. Many people died in this battle. The courthouse, (Appomattox Courthouse), was where Robert E. Lee surrendered to Grant.

387 were killed on the side of the Confederate States of America

460 were killed on the side of the United States Union.

A total of 1325 people went missing, their destinies are unknown.

Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. He favored paying slaveholder for their loses and to restore the Union. All slaves in the Rebel states would be "forever free".

The Gettysburg address was a speech spoken by Abraham Lincoln after the Battle of Gettysburg. The Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle because of the fact that there was mass amounts of killings and blood shed occurring. In fact it was the battle that had the greatest number of casualties during the Civil War.

Gettysburg was a battle in the American Civil War, fought between the United States and the Confederate States. The United States won, and the Confederate States ceased to exist.

It was General George Meade that defeated Robert E. Lee at the battle of Gettysburg.

As for Robert "Stonewall" Jackson... It's Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. Him and Robert E. Lee would have never gone up against each other since they were both Confederate. Jackson was also killed two months before the battle Gettysburg. He was shot by one of his men and died eight days later due to pneumonia.

Some of the best officers of the US Army had resigned to join the Confederates.

Traditional advantage in cavalry - most young Southerners could ride and shoot

Officer class - the army was a more natural choice of career for sons of rural landowners than in the industrial North.

Rank-&-file - a more soldierlike breed, a generally aggressive kind of people

Home-ground advantage - most battles were on terrain unfamiliar to the enemy

Stronger war-mission - to defend the homeland against the invader.

Their President did not have to face an election in mid-war, as Lincoln did.

(At the beginning) Prospect of recognition and military aid from Britain and France.

Chamberlains 2nd Maine Regiment held off a determined assault by the Alabama Militia on Little Round Top on the second day of the battle.

Gettysburg is important in American history because president Abraham Lincoln gave the famous Gettysburg address in a cemetery in Gettysburg where many of the soldiers who died fighting for America were buried.

Gettysburg is only about ten miles north of the southern border of Pennsylvania, and maybe fifty miles across Maryland from the nearest point in Virginia as the crow flies.

The Confederates had a much longer way to go though, on the campaign which led them to Gettysburg. When they set out for Pennsylvania the Confederates left their camps at Chancellorsville, just west of Fredericksburg, Virginia. This was about sixty miles south of Washington DC, and maybe 125 miles on a straight line from Gettysburg. The Confederates did not proceed on a straight course to Gettysburg, however. They first moved northwest, crossing the Bull Run Mountains into the Shenandoah Valley, then northeast down the Valley to the Potomac at Harper's Ferry and vicinity. Some Confederates were already in Pennsylvania before the last of them left their camps near Fredericksburg. Once in Pennsylvania the Confederates were considerably spread out. Lee's Army contained three corps, and the Second Corps was on the west bank of the Susquehanna River looking across at the state capital, Harrisburg, when the battle of Gettysburg began. Thus, the Second Corps marched south and arrived at the battle from the north, to the great surprise of the Union forces. The other Confederates had come to Gettysburg from the west, along the route of present US Highway 30, from Cashtown, then known as the Cashtown Pike.

During the civil war, the north tended to name their battles after the nearest body of water (usually a river or a stream, etc.) while the south tended to name theirs after the nearest town. Thus we have the confusion over Antietam (north)/sharpsburg (south) or bull run (north)/manassas (south).