Gettysburg Remembered

July 1, 2024

Gettysburg Remembered - Turning Point of the American Civil War

As the sun rose over the rolling hills of Pennsylvania on July 1, 1863, the sleepy town of Gettysburg awoke to the sound of gunfire. The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, under the command of General Robert E. Lee, had marched north into enemy territory, seeking to deliver a decisive blow to the Union forces and bring an end to the Civil War. But the Union Army of the Potomac, led by General George G. Meade, stood in their way, determined to defend their homeland and preserve the Union at all costs. The first day of the battle was a chaotic affair, as Union cavalry under the command of General John Buford clashed with Confederate infantry on the outskirts of town. Buford's men fought bravely, but they were heavily outnumbered and outgunned, and they were eventually forced to retreat through the streets of Gettysburg, fighting a desperate rearguard action to slow the Confederate advance. As the day wore on, more Union troops arrived on the scene, taking up defensive positions on the high ground south of town, including the now-famous Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill. The Confederates, meanwhile, occupied the town itself and prepared for a major assault on the Union lines. On the second day of the battle, July 2nd, the Confederates launched a massive attack on the Union left flank, hoping to break through the Union defenses and outflank the Army of the Potomac. The fighting was brutal and intense, with both sides suffering heavy casualties as they clashed in the rocky terrain of Devil's Den and Little Round Top. One of the most famous moments of the battle came on this second day, when the 20th Maine Regiment, under the command of Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, made a desperate stand on the slopes of Little Round Top. Outnumbered and running low on ammunition, Chamberlain ordered his men to fix bayonets and charge the advancing Confederates, driving them back down the hill and securing the Union flank. The third and final day of the battle, July 3rd, saw the most famous moment of the entire Civil War: Pickett's Charge. General Lee, convinced that the Union center was vulnerable, ordered a massive frontal assault on the Union lines, with over 12,000 Confederate soldiers marching across an open field toward the Union positions on Cemetery Ridge. The charge was a disaster for the Confederates, with thousands of men cut down by Union artillery and rifle fire before they ever reached the Union lines. Those who did make it to the Union positions were quickly overwhelmed and forced to retreat, leaving behind a field littered with the bodies of the dead and wounded. The battle of Gettysburg was a turning point in the Civil War, a decisive victory for the Union that ended Lee's invasion of the North and dashed Confederate hopes of winning the war. But the cost was staggering, with over 50,000 casualties on both sides, including over 8,000 soldiers killed in action. In the aftermath of the battle, the small town of Gettysburg found itself transformed into a vast hospital and burial ground, with thousands of wounded soldiers filling every available building and tens of thousands of bodies waiting to be buried. The stench of death hung heavy over the town, and the sound of moaning and weeping filled the air. It was in this somber atmosphere that President Abraham Lincoln arrived in Gettysburg on November 19th, 1863, to dedicate the new Soldiers' National Cemetery. In a brief but powerful address, Lincoln paid tribute to the bravery and sacrifice of the soldiers who had fought and died at Gettysburg, and he called on the nation to rededicate itself to the unfinished work of the war. "We here highly resolve," Lincoln declared, "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." Those words have echoed down through the generations, a lasting tribute to the courage and sacrifice of...