Battle of Gettysburg
And How it Changed the War
Where They Were in the War
Article by George
The War
The Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-4, 1863, was pivotal in the Civil War. The South was winning the Civil War, historian Anna-Lisa Dahlgren says it was like a “40 to 3” football game. But when the North emerged victorious it was big for them, because it showed that the South couldn’t move North.
The Confederacy
The Battle of Gettysburg was Robert E. Lee’s second attempt to invade the North, hoping for food and to push Abraham Lincoln to surrendering. They had 75,000 soldiers, compared to the Union’s 90,000 soldiers, but that wasn't a problem in their eyes’. The Confederacy felt confident about the battle and the war, but the battle ended with them retreating, which was not something they had hoped for.
The Union
The Union had the results they had hoped for, even though they lost 23,000 soldiers and started shaky, they won the battle. The North was hoping for a victory on their own land, and thinking that this could result in the end or the turning point. After they won this battle, they had hope and won several other major battles. This resulted in Union victory of the entire war.