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Prologue
In July of 1863, the turning point of the Civil War occurred at the Battle of Gettysburg when the Army of Northern Virginia with about 75,000 men under General Robert E. Lee and the Army of the Potomac with 90,000 men under General George Meade, met by chance when a brigade of Southern troops looking for supplies in the area was fired upon by a unit of Northern Cavalry along the Chambersburg Pike. The fighting escalated into a full scale battle on those hot summer days of July 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.
Epilogue
On July 4th, Lee moved his army south to Virginia to continue the war. The town of Gettysburg was left with the suffering, death and destruction. The bodies of men and animals were scattered over the Battlefield. Thousands were dead or wounded. There were over 50,000 casualties, captured, wounded or killed. On November 18, 1863 the National Cemetery, containing the graves of over 3,000 Union soldiers who fell at Gettysburg, was dedicated. It was at the Abraham Lincoln made his short speech that became known as The Gettysburg Address. |
