Gettysburg
Day One: July 1, 1863
At 5:30 am the fist shots of Gettysburg were fired at Marsh Creek. The Confederacy was very cautious about their attack in fear that the Union would outnumber their soldiers. General Robert E. Lee was making the moves for the Confederate side and Gereral George G. Meade was in charge of the Union army. Meade was in to north part and kept his army between the Confederates and Washington, D.C. When Lee learned that the Union was in Pennsylvania, Lee concentrated his army around Gettysburg. Parts of the armies met in the north and west of Gettysburg. The Union slowed down the Confederate army butBy the afternoon the Conferderate army had renforcements coming in to help fight. The union army was driven back to the town of Gettysburg losing about 4,000 men. Overall the Confederate had 30,000 men while the Union had only 20,000. The confederate army took conrtol of the battle on the first day. |
Day Two: July 2, 1863
On the morning of the second day of the battle of Gettysburg, Union officer John Longstreets 20,000 men were on the way to Little Round Top and Big Round Top. Lee however did not have any men placed on these hills to his disadvantage. Meade had all of his corps placed on the feild except for one. Major General Daniel Sickles ignored his orders to go to Cemertary Drive and insteah went to a peach orchard. This almost made the Union army have many more losses. By the end of the day the feids were soaked in blood. There had been thousands of caualties. and there was still one more day to go. |
Day Three: July 3, 1863
On the third and last day of the war General Lee was careless and thought he would be able to easily finish the battle. The union though had alot more soldiers than the Confederate and when Robert E. Lee sent in his troops he was careless and not cautious. The union clearly out numbered them and by nightfall General Lee surendered. |
Extra Facts
The Confederate
70,000 men commanded by General Robert E. Lee
The Union
94,000 men commanded by Major General George G. Meade
After the battle 37,574 rifles left laying on the battlefield
were collected.
24,000 were still loaded
6,000 had one round in the barrel
12,000 had two rounds in the barrel
6,000 had three to ten rounds in the barrel
Not all the soldiers were men - several women were known to have fought
disguised as men.
The Confederate
70,000 men commanded by General Robert E. Lee
The Union
94,000 men commanded by Major General George G. Meade
After the battle 37,574 rifles left laying on the battlefield
were collected.
24,000 were still loaded
6,000 had one round in the barrel
12,000 had two rounds in the barrel
6,000 had three to ten rounds in the barrel
Not all the soldiers were men - several women were known to have fought
disguised as men.
Quotes
Rations were scarcely issued, and the men about preparing
supper, when rumors that the enemy had been encountered that day near Gettysburg
absorbed every other interest, and very soon orders came to march forthwith to
Gettysburg.
Joshua Chamberlain
"In great deeds something abides.
On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear, but
spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of
souls.”
Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain,
Speaking at the
dedication of the Monument to the 20th Maine,
October 3, 1889, Gettysburg,
PA
"The truth will be known in time, and I leave
that to show how much of the responsibility of Gettysburg rests on my
shoulders."
James Longstreet
"We entered Gettysburg in the afternoon, just in time
to meet the enemy entering the town, and in good season to drive him back
before his getting a foothold."
John Buford
"My dead and wounded were nearly as great in number as
those still on duty."
Colonel William C. Oates
supper, when rumors that the enemy had been encountered that day near Gettysburg
absorbed every other interest, and very soon orders came to march forthwith to
Gettysburg.
Joshua Chamberlain
"In great deeds something abides.
On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear, but
spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of
souls.”
Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain,
Speaking at the
dedication of the Monument to the 20th Maine,
October 3, 1889, Gettysburg,
PA
"The truth will be known in time, and I leave
that to show how much of the responsibility of Gettysburg rests on my
shoulders."
James Longstreet
"We entered Gettysburg in the afternoon, just in time
to meet the enemy entering the town, and in good season to drive him back
before his getting a foothold."
John Buford
"My dead and wounded were nearly as great in number as
those still on duty."
Colonel William C. Oates
Gettysburg Address
Four score and seven years ago our fathers
brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any
nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great
battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as
a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation
might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we
can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled
here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any
nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great
battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as
a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation
might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we
can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled
here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.