The Battle of Gettysburg: Turning Point of the Civil War

Introduction

Americans had been engaged in a Civil War which had been begun in April of 1861 with shots fired on a fort in South Carolina. In the summer of 1863 in a small town called Gettysburg, there would be a fierce battle fought between the Union Army of the Potomac led by General George G. Meade and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia led by General Robert E. Lee. The events of the battle would overcome the losses suffered by the Union and put the Confederacy on the run. “Over 165,000 men would converge, and before the fighting ended, the ground would run red with blood. The battle was fierce, and the casualties proved it. But the casualties that resulted would not be in vain, at least for the Union; the formidable power of the Army of Northern Virginia would be stricken a fatal blow, one that they, and the South, would never truly recover from. ” The Union victory at Gettysburg changed the course of the Civil War.

The Events

General George B. McClellan was the commander of the Army of the Potomac from August 15, 1862 until November 9, 1862 when he was removed from command due to his constant harassment of the War Department and his inability to achieve victories over the rebel armies. On that same day of his removal General Ambrose E. Burnside would be appointed as the new commander of the Army of the Potomac. President Lincoln gave direct instructions to General Burnside to attack the Army of Northern Virginia. Burnside moved his army to the area of the Rappahannock River, which was located just outside the town of Fredericksburg, Virginia. When he arrived there on December 13 he found that the rebels had dug in positions that overlooked the river and the town. Due to Burnside’s units moving slowly at g...

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