GETTYSBURGThe Civil War Turning Point

Road to Gettysburg• After Antietam, General

McClellan failed to finish off a retreating General Lee

• Pres. Lincoln was frustrated by this and had him replaced

• Lincoln eventually replaced his replacement with General Joseph Hooker

• Hooker’s army fought at Chancellorsville where General “Stonewall” Jackson was mistakenly shot by his own men

Lincoln & McClellan shortly after the Battle of Antietam

Gen. “Stonewall” Jackson

General Joseph Hooker

Lee’s Northern Push• Despite the tragic loss of

“Stonewall” Jackson, Lee pressed into Penn.

• Lee had many ideas of what victories in the North would bring• Talks of peace• Fuel Northern discontent with

the war• Would lead to diplomatic

recognition of the Confederacy from Europe

• Assistance to the Confederacy from Europe

Center: Jackson, Beauregard, and Lee

Gettysburg Campaign

Union

Confederacy

Battle of Gettysburg• Fighting lasted 3 days on the

hills and fields around Gettysburg, PA• July 1-3, 1863

• 90,000 Union troops were commanded by Gen. George Meade

• 75,000 Confederate troops were commanded by Gen. Robert E. Lee

• Union troops tried to hold their ground on Cemetery Ridge, south of the town

General Meade’s HQ @ Cemetery Hill in Gettysburg

Day One @ Gettysburg

Day 2 @ Gettysburg

Day 3 @ Gettysburg• Turning point of the battle comes on this day

• Lee ordered General George Pickett to directly attack the Union line

• Pickett’s Charge• Approx. 13,000 rebel troops

charge the ridge• Thousands died and the

Confederates retreat

Confederate Retreat• Union expected a

counterattack that never came

• Lincoln was again angered that his generals to not finish off Lee’s army

• Union lost 23,000 men

• Confederate casualties equal 28,000 and he leads his men back to Virginia

• Confederates never again cross the Union border• Remain on the defensive for

remainder of the war

Gettysburg Address• November 1863

• Dedicate cemetery for those killed in the battle

• Lincoln was not the key speaker• Key guy spoke for 2 hours• Lincoln’s address was 2 minutes

• Included African Americans in the term “all men are created equal”

“It is for us the living…to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us…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.”