Battle Of Gettysburg Essay

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Michael Maggiore
Mrs. Bojanowski
English 12
22 May 2014
Battle of Gettysburg
1863 there was a battle that shocked the entire nation. That battle was The Battle of Gettysburg. “This most famous and most important Civil War Battle occurred over three hot days, July 1 to July 3, 1863, around the small market town of Gettysburg” (Lamath). The grueling battle had nearly 160,000 Americans involved by the end. Roughly half of the soldiers became casualties. From the Union Army, there were 23,000 casualties out of 88,000. From the Confederacy, 28,000 out of 75,000 soldiers were lost. The commanding general for the Confederacy was General Robert E. Lee. The commanding general for the Union army was General George E. Meade. What many don’t know is the confederacy in the battle was also known The Army of Northern Virginia. The Union was also known as The Union army of the Potomac. These were the two main forces at The Battle of Gettysburg. Every day there was a plan by each opposing general that quickly involved heated battles with great strategies by the generals. These battles occurred in places like, Cemetery Ridge, Little Round Top, Devil’s Den, Cemetery Hill, and Culp’s Hill. Some Battles were such follies by the commanding officer the battle was named after them.

The battle at Gettysburg is described as one of the worst battles ever fought on the continent. It is also arguably the turning point in the civil war. Up until this battle every other battle that was fought in the civil war was won by the south, with the exception of the battle of Antietam. In three short days an estimated 51,000 soldiers lost their lives. Civil war photography was able to capture the war like never b...

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...diers who died on the battlefield of Gettysburg, Gettysburg became a national park. Gettysburg not only became a national park but one of the most visited in our nation. It also commemorated where Abraham Lincoln gave his famous “Gettysburg Address.” Nearly thirty two years after the end of the Battle of Gettysburg, the Gettysburg national park came about. “Created February 11, 1895, the 5,733-acre park includes the site where Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address”(Fredriksen) The Battle of Gettysburg will remain a tourist attraction for many years and even now still a battlefield as some still hear moans of soldiers and their ghostly silhouettes marching about. Even the old battlegrounds like Little Round top or Devil’s Den will stay true to their grim past and hold onto what happened so long ago which divided our great nation that was once a whole.

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