The Battle of Gettysburg happened in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in 1863 during the American Civil War. This was part of the Gettysburg Campaign wherein many people lost their lives as the Union’s Army of Potomac led by Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade defeated the Confederate’s Army of Northern Virginia led by General Robert E. Lee. The Battle of Gettysburg lasted from the 1st to the 3rd of July in 1863.
The Battle of Gettysburg was considered to be the turning point of the American Civil War because it destroyed the Confederates offensive strategy to invade majority of the North after Lee and his troops defeated the Army of Potomac at the Battle of Chancellorsville. Lee and his Confederate comrades pushed this invasion so that the North will recognize the independence of the Confederate States of America. The Army of Potomac under the Union General Meade had a pool of about 85, 000 men while the Confederate Army led by General Lee started out with soldiers numbering around 75, 000 before fighting at Gettysburg.
The battle began in July 1st outside Gettysburg wherein many soldiers from the Union troops were either killed or taken as prisoners by the Confederates. On this first day of battle, Federal General John Reynolds was killed while Confederate General Archer was captured. The second and third days of the Battle of Gettysburg saw the continuous slaughter and show of war skills between the two troops. Eventually General Lee, lacking manufacturing capacity and transportation facilities, retreated to Virginia on the night of July 4th without Meade making a counterattack due primarily to heavy rains. At the end of this battle it was accounted that the Union Army had about 23,000 casualties while the Confederates lost around 25,000 of their men, truly making the Battle of Gettysburg as the battle with the most casualties during the American Civil War.
For Civil War Collectibles, including clothing, pistols, swords, and accessories, drop by realmcollections.com.