The+Battle+of+Gettysburg

Why did the confederates attack when they had 22,000 less soldiers? Trevor, Ben and Bruce pd 2

The Battle of Gettysburg was fought in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 1863. The Battle of Gettysburg was the largest battle fought on the North American continent and the bloodiest contest of the civil war. This was also the turning point for the Union. The Major players for this war were, for the South, Robert E. Lee James Longstreet, A.P. Hill, J. E. B. Stuart, James Pettigrew, and George E Pickett, and for the North George Gordon Meade, Winfeild Scott Hancock, Daniel Sickles, Strong Vincent, and Joshua Chamberlain. Now It's time to see what went on in the battle.

The first day of fighting started on July 1st 1863. The confederates valued high ground and sought to get it. The union troop were forced back through the town to the hills behind it. The first day was especially costly for the union, of the 18,000 soldiers 1/3 of them were casualties. Among the soldiers killed was general John F. Reynolds.

Lee was upset because of the victory, he now wanted to try to outflank Meade, and make him reatreat. He told longstreet to capture roundtop, and little roundtop, but because of the lack of knowledge of the area, plus trying to avoid detection, the real attack happened at 4:00 pm. Longstreet got the Union left flank exposed, because he attacked sickles, and inflicted major casualties. Meanwhile longstreet sent more troops to roundtop, and little roundtop. The attack on roundtop was succecful, but because of a discovery by a union, the confederates were driven off of little roundtop. This was major because this saved the Union in battle. Then, back to the Sickles position, he got broke through but more helped arrived, and the Union drove them back, but this left a big opening on culps hill, but the union pushed the confederates back to their original positions. Lee had attacked the Union flanks, and was preapared to attack the center.

Lee’s attack was against the center of the Union line directed to Cemetery Ridge. But Hancock’s second corps held their section of the union line. Lee ordered Ewell to attack on Culp’s Hill. Stuarts cavalry swung from the north and threatened the union rear. Third days fighting began at about 4:30 a.m. Union began an artillery attack on Culp’s Hill. Both sides put up a good fight but the Confederates didn’t help Lee’s battle plans when fighting stopped around 12 just after noon. At about noon 160 Confederate men prepared for the largest artillery duel in the history of North America. The Union had fewer than 200 men and fought for two hours. The Confederate’s had little to no success. Although. It did wreck havoc in the Union line. About 2:00 pm the Union army stopped firing to preserve ammunition. The Confederates than attacked. They were furious and they kept on marching down the open field. But only several hundred of Confederates continued to advance. They were driven back. Some 6,500 (55%) were casualties. That was known forever as the pickets charge. Union lost 23,000 men and Confederates lost 28,000 men. b  media type="custom" key="5657359"

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Works Cited Dickson, Keith D., and Spencer C. Tucker. “Battle of Gettysburg:American Civil War.” United States at War: Understanding Conflicts. ABC-Clio, 11 Mar. 2010. Web. 12 Mar. 2010. . Thomason, W Scott. “Gettysburg, Battle of.” Dictionary of American History. Ed. Stanley I Kutler. 3rd ed. Vol. 3. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2003. 566-569. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 17 Mar. 2010. .