The Battle of Gettysburg
Do you know what happened at the battle of Gettysburg? It was fought around Gettysburg Pennsylvania from July 1-3. Gettysburg is in the south end of Pennsylvania the first battle on July 1 was fought north of Gettysburg where the forces met Buford of the union laid out his defenses on three fronts.
He sent General Howard a couple miles strait north and Reynolds three miles south west. The confederates split up into four different groups and A.P. Hill led the first assault in the morning to the West attacking Reynolds. Ewell led the other assaults three groups to the north and north west. The Union was forced to retreat to Cemetery Hill to the south of Gettysburg. So the confederates had taken Gettysburg.
The second battle was fought on July 2, south of Gettysburg on Cemetery and Cups Hill. The Union had encircled most of Cemetery and Cups Hill. The confederates attacked on four fronts: two of which attacked the main section of the union and the other two attacked the smaller section of the union. There was a lot of moving around by the union to defend against the confederates.
On the third day of the battle the fight was still in the same place as the day before. A couple sections of the confederates went to protect the town. The union spread out so the confederates had to cover more ground. Lt. Longstreet had to retreat from attacking Sedgwick in the far south so he had to move up north. Eventually the confederates where forced to retreat into Maryland.
The influence of the battle was a huge one it was said to be the turning point of the war. When the confederate’s retreated over the next two weeks the union attacked them several times. There was the largest casualties was the largest in the war. For the union there were 3,155 killed 14,531 wounded and 5,369 captured/missing. And for the confederates there were 4,708 killed 12,693 wounded and 5,830 captured/missing.
The general’s majors and LT. were made a huge influence on the battle. For the union Howard defended on the first day of the battle to the north, And Reynolds defended to North West. And on the third day of the battle Howard, Newton, Slocum and Hancock all defended amazingly defended against the confederates along with Sickles, Sykes and Sedgwick. For the confederates A. P. Hill Ewell and Longstreet attack with great skill. Ewell was amazing at controlling more than one group at a time and the rest were all amazing fighters and strategist.
