Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated the proposition that all men are created equal. These are the opening lines of the Gettysburg Address, one of the most famous and off quoted speeches in American history. Delivered by President Abraham Lincoln on the 19th of November 1863 and outlining the ethos of the heart of the American civil war namely the abolition of slavery. The speech was given four and a half months after the clash from which it took its name the Battle of Gettysburg.
The battle lasted for three days from the first of the 3rd of July 1863 and is generally regarded as the turning point of the four year war. The Confederate troops of the southern states were led by General Robert E. Lee and having recently won an important victory. They were ready to resume their second attempt to march north, hoping to make it as far as Harrisburg in Pennsylvania or even Philadelphia. But first they have to get through a little time from Gettysburg.
Located eight miles to the east of south point would march group to the south west and brought—to south east. Gettysburg became a battle in the 1800s by the time the civil war work hard its population was around 2400. As General Lee reached the town, President Lincoln urged Major General Joseph Hooker and the Union army to follow closely behind. Before the battle of the men start—is relieved of his command and it was Major General George Gordon Mead and the Union’s army—
The Confederates took the offensive and on the first day, they attacked some riches to the northwest of the town. The Union defense lines rallied but were swiftly overcome by two hefty contingents of Confederate troops orchestrated from Lee’s head quarters. The union troops retreated scattering through the streets of the town but that was just day one. By the 2nd of July, with most of both armies now ready for action made what is defensive strategy into play. More heavy Confederate assaults triggered fierce battles of places like the Little Round Top, The Wheatfield, Devil’s Den, the Beach Fortune and fittingly, the Cemetery hill.
Over night, the troops began to count their losses before resuming their positions the next day. Again, Lee’s forces led attacks to the east and south but the major skirmish was at Cemetery Ridge where against the advice of the Commander, Lieutenant General James Longstreet, 12,500 Confederates took part in the ill fated charge. Major General George Pickett was one of the divisional commanders and it was his fresh troops who were in that to lead the soldier. The attack was a disaster. With Union defenses holding firm and the Confederates sustaining terrible losses. It was a turning point of the battle and indeed the war would leave force to abandon his invasion of the north and make a long painful retreat to Virginia.
For final figures for the three day battle make—in just three days, the two armies suffered between 46,000 and 51,000 casualties with other 7,860 deaths and while the numbers of dead, wounded and captured is fairly equal to both sides, it was the Union’s superior strength, nearly 94,000 men compared to the confederate 71,700 that led to the defeat.
Marking the difference between the hand to hand—led warfare at the 1800s and the all out attacks from today without overwhelming cycled collateral damage. It was just one documented civilian death during the battles. A 20 year old local woman called Jenny Wade died when a stray bullet through her window. As the armies left Gettysburg, the town was left with a clean up operation. All those corpses were left on the ground in a hot summer sun and had to be buried swiftly. Then there was a 3000 horses which will burned to the south of the town, resulting in such a revolting stench that some towns became ill. The debris was so extensive that Gettysburg still displayed the ravages of the fighting four months later when President Lincoln arrived to dedicate the soldier’s national cemetery and deliver his historic address.
It ended with a memorable lines 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.
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