Battle Of Gettysburg Trading Post
June 7, 2022
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In the American Civil War, the Battle of gettysburg trading post (July 1–3, 1863) occurred 35 miles (56 km) southwest of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and resulted in a crushing victory for the North. The battle is regarded as the turning point of the war and has probably been studied and analyzed more intensively than any other in American history.
Invasion of Pennsylvania by Lee, 1862.
Gen. Robert E. Lee decided to invade the North after defeating Union forces led by Gen. Joseph Hooker in Chancellorsville, Virginia, in May 1861, in order to further discourage the enemy and perhaps persuade European countries to recognize the Confederacy. In anticipation of his invasion, Lee reorganized his army into three corps under Generals A.P. Hill, James Longstreet, and Richard S. Ewell. Confederate morale was high as defeatist sentiment spread in the North, and Lee’s army numbered more than 71,000 troops.
Among them was General Jeb Stuart’s cavalry. Stuart made a bold and possibly ill-advised cavalry sweep completely around the Federal forces in the last week of June 1863, passing between them and Washington, D.C. On June 28, when his Army of Northern Virginia had pushed deep into Pennsylvania, The cavalry under Stuart, which should have been the eyes of the army, was out of touch with Lee.
Through a spy, Lee received a report that Hooker’s Army of the Potomac was at Frederick, Maryland, under a new commander, Gen. George G. Meade.. This unexpected threat prompted Lee to act immediately. In anticipation of carrying the offensive across the Susquehanna from positions at Carlisle and York, Ewell’s corps was ordered either to Cashtown or gettysburg trading post. Longstreet’s corps at Chambersburg and Hill’s corps at Greenwood were to march east to Cashtown, both of which had been preparing to move north. The concentration east of South Mountain would put Lee in a great strategic position to defend or attack.
Day 1 of the battle took place July 1, 1863.
One of Buford’s brigades, armed with the newly issued Spencer repeating carbines, delayed Heth’s division until Gen. John F. Reynolds’ I Corps arrived at about 11:00 a.m. on July 1. The two leading brigades of Heth were forced back by a vigorous counterattack with heavy losses on both sides. Reynolds was mortally wounded in the engagement; he would be the highest-ranking officer to die at gettysburg trading post and one of the most senior commanders to be killed during the war.By 1:00 PM, all three divisions of the I Corps had been deployed along Seminary Ridge, and two divisions of Gen. Oliver O.
Howard’s XI Corps had arrived to defend the northern approaches to the town. An additional division of the XI Corps was posted on Cemetery Hill. About noon, Howard reached the field, turning over his XI Corps to General Carl Schurz, taking over overall command of the field from General Abner Doubleday. After resisting on both fronts until about 2:30, Gen. Jubal Early’s division attacked the northeast flank of the XI Corps, causing their entire position to crumble.
XI Corps was routed, leaving the flank of I Corps exposed and forcing it to retreat. The two Union corps had suffered more than 50 percent casualties before the defenders could rally on Cemetery Hill. Lee now had superior strength available, but, not knowing the enemy’s true dispositions, he did not wish to engage them until Longstreet’s corps arrived.
Longstreet’s corps arrived on July 2.
Meade’s troops had occupied a line along Cemetery Hill, Culp’s Hill, and Cemetery Ridge by dawn. Meade’s position would be undermined if the Confederates succeeded on the Federal right, as their line of communications along the Baltimore Pike would be threatened. Although Lee wanted to exploit this strategic weakness, Ewell argued that Longstreet should concentrate his attack on the opposite flank.
Lee, on the other hand, argued that Meade should attack. Due to the opposition of his corps commanders, Lee did not issue his orders until 11:00 AM. Longstreet was to encircle the Federal south flank and attack along the Emmitsburg Pike, where Lee mistakenly believed Meade’s line lay. Hills and Ewell would make secondary attacks. Longstreet’s artillery started firing at 3:00 PM, so Meade rushed to the south flank that had been overlooked and found that Sickles had not positioned his III Corps along Cemetery Ridge as directed,
but had moved forward to higher ground. The attack weakened the south flank and created a dangerous salient, but it was too late to pull him back. Longstreet’s corps attacked the Union left at 4:00 PM with Gen. John Bell Hood’s division.
July 3rd and Pickett’s Charge.
The third day, Lee attacked again despite Longstreet’s objections. Meanwhile, Meade was less confident, and it was only after a formal council of war that he decided to continue fighting. With Ewell making a secondary attack on Culp’s Hill, Lee planned to attack the Federal center with 10 brigades, three of which belonged to Pickett’s division. While Pickett’s Charge has been immortalized as the most famous attack of the Civil War, this general’s only responsibility was to organize the divisions of Brig.
Gen. James Johnston Pettigrew (who had assumed command of Heth’s division after Heth was wounded on July 1) and Gen. Isaac Trimble (who had assumed control of Pender’s division after Pender was mortally wounded on July 2) as they approached their attack positions on his left. The operation was led by Longstreet, not Pickett. Approximately 1:00 PM, the Confederate artillery began a tremendous bombardment, which was immediately countered by Federal artillery. At 3:00 PM, the infantry started across the 1,400 yards (1,280 metres) of open fields toward Cemetery Ridge. The Federals watched in awe as about 15,000 Confederate troops advanced toward them. After having ceased fire an hour earlier to save ammunition, the Federal artillery returned to action with devastating effect at a range of about 700 yards (640 metres).
Even though most of the Confederate artillery preparations went over their heads, the roughly 10,000 Federal infantry against whom the attack was directed waited coolly behind stone walls and held their fire until the Confederates were within effective range. After breaking through and entering Cemetery Ridge, the spearhead could not further advance. Having been severely weakened by artillery during their approach, their formations hopelessly tangled, lacking reinforcement, and under severe attack from three sides, they left behind the bodies of their dead and wounded as they marked “the high tide of the Confederacy.”
19 battle flags and hundreds of prisoners were left behind as the Confederates retreated, demoralized but not panicking. Several Union brigades advanced to hasten the retreat, but they were too roughly handled by the Army of the Potomac to mount a counterattack. gettysburg trading post