Battle of Gettysburg

Battle of Gettysburg

After the victory Chancellorsville, Confederate General Lee considered himself to be able to invade, for the second time in the Yankee territory. The goals pursued by this invasion were multiple (Trudeau, 2002):

A great victory in Yankee territory to force the Union to engage in peace negotiations,

Washington isolate and bring about the fall of the city by depriving supply rather than attacking its powerful front fortifications,

Advantage of the abundant resources of the northern states to supply an strong Southern army enduring hardships,

forcing the Union to withdraw troops from the western states where the situation was in Confederate degrading

At the end of May 1863, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, totaling 77,000 men divided into three parts (1 Longstreet's corps, the 2nd of Richard Ewell and AP Hill 3rd), left the sector Fredericksburg and crossed the Shenandoah Valley to enter the Federal territory.

In the camp northerner, the commander of the Army of the Potomac, Joseph Hooker, did not realize that Lee's departure nine days later. He immediately decided to walk to the southern capital (which would have forced Lee to change his plans) but was prevented by Lincoln considered as a priority the defense of Washington. Hooker therefore resolved to march northward to the head of his 93,500 Federals.

The Battlefield

Until June 28, the Confederate cavalry of Stuart failed to detect the federal movement. It was only then that Lee learned of the presence, less than 40 km south-east of the Union Army of the Potomac. At the same time, he learned the dismissal of General Hooker federal and replacing it with a tough opponent, George Meade. Concerned by the return northerner, Lee ordered the consolidation of its three army corps, widely dispersed in the Cash town, about fifty kilometers south of the city of Harrisburg, the state capital of Pennsylvania.

The first contacts between the avant-garde took place June 30, 1863 near the small town of Gettysburg. Southerners, who expected to find in the locality reserve shoes were greeted by sporadic gunfire. Lee and Meade were at that moment away from Gettysburg and none of them had anticipated battle at this point. However, given the strategic importance of the city where 10 routes crossed, they decided everyone to send large reinforcements.

July 1

Southerners went for their first coordinated assault against Gettysburg on July 1. Significantly they launched a double attack against the city in higher number in the early hours of the battle. Further, Hill's corps was attacked by the West and specifically by the North Ewell.

The Yankees were Under pressure and had gradually moved away. With the arrival of Lee, in the afternoon, the Confederates occupied the heights to the west and north of the city while huddled on the Federal collline of Cemetery Hill in the south. Lee immediately saw this height the key to victory. He ordered General Ewell, who replaced the ineffective so late General Jackson to seize the ...