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Battle of gettysburg summary essay
Battle of gettysburg analysis
Robert E. Lee
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The Battle of Gettysburg Parker Griffin Mountain View High School The Battle of Gettysburg was the largest battle in North America. Consisting of around 175,000 Soldiers in total and around 51,000 casualties this was a battle that would determine the outcome of the civil war (History). General Lee was moving his forces through the north and had just had a major victory against Potomac at Chancellorsville and was feeling confident (Gettysburg). He came upon two cavalries that had been placed at Gettysburg and the bulk of both armies began moving there. The Union to protect it and the Confederates came to try and destroy the Union Army. The second day of this three day battle “the Union Army had established strong positions from Culp’s Hill to Cemetery Ridge” (Gettysburg). This was very important because in order to attack the union forces they had to go up a hill or try and fire from lower down witch is far more difficult than shooting from above. There were many Bloody Skirmishes thought the first two days ending in about 25,000 casualties. …show more content…
He talked about how the Union had many victories and outnumbered the Confederates It also talked about how they had the best possible position and how it would be almost impossible to take the position (Daily national Republican). This article gave the people hope and made them proud to be part of the Union. After this Newspaper was written or during the time it was written Pickett’s charge accrued this was a charge into the Union strong hold on the left side. It was a last shot at trying to take Cometary Hill but failed badly and ended with many dead and Pickett was forced to retreat
Nevertheless, an attitude they show is their cause for engaging in the war. On page 110, Lee describes, “With every step of a soldier, with every tick of the clock, the army was gaining safety, closer to victory, closer to the dream of independence.” His words reveal that their reason for coming was to gain their long overdue independence. Without a cause worth fighting for on each side, the war would have no fuel or reason to continue. In like manner, another attitude of the South was their admiration for their commander general. On page 251, Longstreet proclaims, “Colonel, let me explain something. The secret of General Lee is that men love him and follow him with faith in him. That’s one secret.” I believe this clarifies that the bond of brotherhood and respect for each other in this army would allow for these soldiers to follow their leader blindly. The overwhelming amount of faith and trust among the Army of the Northern Virginia is inspiring. The Confederates prove in these appearances that they do indeed have an important cause that they are willing to die
To the south stands Cemetery Hill, Culp’s Hill, both less than a mile from town. They are part of a larger ridge that ends about 3 miles from town ending in Little Round Top and Big Round Top. On the 1st of July, the Confederate Forces occupied one mile east of the eastern ridge where they set up their artillery while the Union Forces occupied the southern hilltops and the eastern hilltops where naturally, they placed their artillery. Confederate and Union Forces met at around 0730 as Confederate General Heth advanced on Union General John Buford and the defensive line of the Union Army along the eastern ridgeline . The two Armies were both surprised with the situation they found themselves in because before their meeting, they knew little of each others capabilities and had, for quite sometime, been traveling blind yet parallel to each other
“Their differing perceptions of the nature of war form the backbone of the difficult relationship between these two men.” Lee, an older soldier, values much of an offensive warfare approach, while Longstreet values a defensive warfare approach. Both men consistently argue about the best option for the Confederacy. However, “no matter how much he might disagree, Longstreet defers to Lee’s decisions.” In an argument as to who was right, none of the developed tactics provide clear evidence as to what was going to work, especially with a military of lesser men, considering the war in 1863. Although General Lee’s tactics did not work during the Battle of Gettysburg, there is no evidence that General Longstreet’s defensive strategy would have worked significantly better. Therefore, neither of the generals exceeded the other when it comes to military strategies, which rather debunks Shaara’s depiction of Longstreet’s advanced knowledge of modern warfare. Despite of the importance of the Battle of Gettysburg, often marked as the turning point of the war, General Longstreet should not obey an order that results in a significant loss of men that would be extremely difficult to replace at this time. Already limited by the amount of men still able to fight, pushing additional forces in an open battle would just nearly deplete the confederate soldiers completely, and
Screams and curses fill the air. The grassy plain runs blood red.” (page 61). All of these iconic Civil War battles led up to the Confederate surrender at the Appomattox Courthouse and the inescapable rebuilding of a new nation Abraham Lincoln had to deal with. Next, John Wilkes Booth is introduced and his pro-Confederate motives are made clear.
At the time of the battle, the very small town of Gettysburg only had about 2,400 people living in it. This was soon to change because as troops from both sides of the battle came into the town, the 160,000 troops made themselves at home in the local houses and shelters. The battle of Gettysburg only lasted about three days in its entirety. At the end of the third day of battle, the confederate troops ran and retreated back into their Capital which is in Richmond Virginia. All three days of the battle were fought in Gettysburg Pennsylvania. The Battle of Gettysburg, which was fully fought in July 1863, was a Union victory that made the very respected Confederate General Robert E. Lee's retreat all the way back into
The Battle of Gettysburg lead by Robert E. Lee was a three-day battle and was an immense turning point in the war for the Confederate army. Lee had designed brilliant plans for battle, but they were not always fully thought out and executed. Furthermore at Gettysburg Lee’s battle plans seemed to be a big guess or gamble and not really certain at all. Having well thought out
The famous Battle of Gettysburg was a major part of the Civil War. Before the Battle of Gettysburg, the Confederate army had the advantage. Although the casualty tolls of both armies were relatively close in numbers, the North and the South’s attitudes towards the war completely differed after the Battle of Gettysburg. The events occurring in the months following the historic battle were what gave the Union Troops the greatest advantage leading to their victory at the end of the Civil War.
A numerous amount of generals and soldiers of the south had a predisposed idea regarding what every person was fighting for, and from the looks of it, they were more so on the same page. When referring to what the war was being fought over, Englishmen Pickett used an analogy that gives reference to a “gentlemen’s club”, and not being able to maneuver out of it (Shaara 88). The men believed that the war conceived out of the misinterpretation of the constitution in regards to what or what not they had the right to do. In all, a large number of those fighting believed that the confederate army fought to protect the southern society, and slavery as an integral part of
The battle of Gettysburg was a turning point in the civil war because a lot of the generals lost their lives from the great wars. According to the letters (Doc C) from General Robert E. Lee states “ General Barksdale is killed. Generals Garnett and Armstead are missing. Generals Pender and Trimore wounded in the leg. General Heth injured in the head. General Kemper is feared.” This shows that the battle of Gettysburg changed from that point on because the less generals that they had the harder it would be to train their soldiers, the less soldiers that know what to do it will be harder fight in the civil war. This connects back to why the
A successful army requires discipline, but Confederate soldiers refused to concede authority to anyone they did not vote for, at least in the beginning. Confederate soldiers were also prone to shirking duties they deemed menial, and some even left the army without dismissal if they believed they had served long enough. In the uppermost chain of political command, Jefferson Davis proved deficient in quelling the media outlets which railed against his decisions at nearly every turn. Davis gave deference to the right of free speech no matter how damaging it was. Donald then uses these points to highlight the Union Army and Lincoln administration’s successes. The North had the advantage of numerous immigrant conscripts who were used to being ordered around, so the pecking order was easily established from the beginning. In the political realm, Abraham Lincoln did not let Constitutional rights obstruct his goals; Lincoln suspended habeas corpus and threw defamatory journalists into prison. The Union thus had the unity it needed to achieve victory in the face of the South’s
Union Commander Meade, out of fatigue and caution, did not immediately go after Lee, getting President Lincoln very angry who wrote a mad letter to Meade, which was never delivered, saying he missed an opportunity to end the war at this instance (The History Place Battle of Gettysburg 4). Although the casualties were basically equal, the Battle of Gettysburg was the second and last great invasion of the of the North, for the South had neither arms nor numbers to continue an assault, but the War dragged on for two more years. On November 19, President Lincoln went to the battlefield to dedicate it as a military cemetery. He spoke for a short period of time delivering what is called the Gettysburg Address, surprising many present in the audience with its shortness and leaving others quite unimpressed, but over time the speech has come to symbolize democracy as we know it today (Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia Vol. 11 385.
More confederates than unions were illiterate due to the fact that most held professional or white-collard jobs (36). To make the Union soldiers sample fair sense most blacks couldn’t read or write, 2 who could were included in the sample (36). The levels of patriotism differed from the upper and lower south given to the fact that the upper south were mainly cotton states. The confederates felt as if it was a “rich mans woar but the poor man has to do the fifting” (16). The confederates were mainly fighting for “independence, property and way of life” (27). Some characteristics the soldiers had in common were McPherson’s calculations for the Union. He came to seeing that out of 562 Union soldier’s letters read only 67 percent voice strong patriotic motives. This is the same as the two-thirds of Confederates. As a result from reading McPherson’s book, research showed that the Union and Confederate soldiers expressed about the same degree of patriotic and ideological convictions. Even though they both had different reasons for fighting the levels of sincerity and dedication in their notes were
The Battle of Gettysburg took place in a town called Gettysburg, located in Pennsylvania. In the mid-1860s, the town had 2,400 citizens. Nearby, there are several landmarks that would prove crucial throughout the battle. There were four hills; Round Top (now known as Big Round Top), Little Round Top, Culp’s Hill, and Cemetery Hill. For the Confederates, taking position on any of the hills could have proved important for the rest of the war. The battlefield is open to the public, as a National
The Battle of Gettysburg began on July 1, with Confederate troops attacking a Union cavalry division on McPherson Ridge, west of town. After fierce fighting and heavy casualties on both sides, and the Union forces managed to hold, and even drive back the Confederate forces until afternoon, when they were overpowered by additional southern troops, and driven back through town. In the confusion, thousands of Union soldiers were captured before they could rally on Cemetery Hill, south of town
The battle of Gettysburg occurred over three hot summer days, July 1 to July 3, 1863, around the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It began as a meeting engagement, but by its end involved approximately 170,000 Americans. The battle is considered to be the turning point in the American Civil War and is one of the most studied battles in American history. The events that took place at Gettysburg had a tremendous impact on the outcome of the Civil War and the fate of the United States. It is far easier for us in the present than it was for those at Gettysburg, to look back and determine the path that the leaders should have taken.