The Battle of Gettysburg

The Battle of Gettysburg

The Union and Confederate generals had different mindsets going into this battle. General Lee's plan was to attack the Union after moving them to a place far away from supplies. Meade, being hired only 5 days earlier, decided to march his army northeast. Who were they to know that in the end, more men would die than in any other battle of the whole Civil War?

The day before the battle started, June 30th, Meade heard from Lincoln that the Rebels were moving towards Gettysburg from 3 different ways. He ordered his soldiers to prepare to defend Battle Creek, and he sent John Reynolds, commander of the 1st Corps, with the aid of the 11th and 3rd Corps, to Gettysburg. Meade hoped that Reynolds would be able to slow the Rebel forces down. Reynolds did not run into any Confederate forces, so he continued onto Gettysburg. When he arrived just outside of town, he arranged his men into battle formation. Reynolds battled A.P. Hill's corps, who was coming from the Cashtown Gap.

Reynolds was killed the next day, July 1st, by a bullet to his brain. O.O. Howard, who was the commander of the 11th corps, took over. When the 11th corps came, the Confederates attacked on the right of the Union line. The Union line broke, and the soldiers began to retreat. The Confederates chased after, but without new troops, they failed to catch them. By now, Meade had heard of Reynolds death, and he sent Winfield Hancock to take command from Howard. Meade learned from Hancock the army's position, and decided to move the troops forward. He came to the field around midnight, along with the 5th, 2nd, and 6th corps.

For most of the next day, July 2nd, the armies prepared for action. Meade and his army dug in along Cemetery Ridge. General Lee's army moved into attack mode. At 4 o'clock P.M., Longstreet's corps moved away from Confederate corps. They attacked Sickle's corps at the Peach Orchard, and crushed his troops. While this was occurring, Ewell's corps tried to capture Union's Cemetery Hill, but it was too steep, so they retreated back. At the major point in Longstreet's battle, Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade almost broke the Union line, but McGilvery's artillery crushed the brigade. Meade's Pennsylvania Reserve arrived soon after.

The next morning, July 3rd, was extremely quiet. Lee sent JEB Stuart's cavalry around the back of Union lines. This ultimately failed, because of Union Gen. George Custer's cavalry. At the main battlefield, Confederate cannons fired at the Union soldiers on Cemetery Ridge. The Union returned fire, but when they finally stopped firing, the Confederates thought they ran out of ammunition, which is exactly what the Union wanted them to think. Really, they were just saving their ammunition for later use. Pickett then asked Longstreet whether to attack. He approved, so Pickett formed