The Late Day Two Of The Battle Of Gettysburg

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On Wednesday July 1, 1863 two divisions of Confederates made their way towards Gettysburg. The first division was spotted by Union cavalry commander General Buford. Buford sent his men and called for reinforcements immediately. A Union officer saw the Confederate infantry marching toward them amongst the early morning mist. “He rested a carbine on a fence rail and fired. It was the first shot in what became the largest battle in the history of the western hemisphere.” The Confederate troops reacted and the ordered for attack on the Union cavalry line in force. Such, began the Battle of Gettysburg. “The course of the Battle of Gettysburg was, in many ways, determined by the terrain and the outcome of the first day’s fighting.”

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Meade had at least the same amount of men as Lee. Both of the men believed that they were outnumbers, not knowing the exact amount of casualties at the time. Lee’s victory the day before boosted his confidence, it earned a number of ridges, four major roads, and more than three thousand Union prisoners. It was not until late afternoon that Lee was ready to go. A majority of the reports believed that there would be no action that day. Lee had his maneuvers planned out with Ewell and Hill on the north side, and Longstreet on the southern side, Lee assumed that it would be an easy shot, like a hammer against the line with force. It soon went horribly wrong. July 2 would become the bloodiest battle of the war. Meade kept his troops in a two mile radius with a “fishhook.” This gave him the ability to stack his troops and be able to work together in a closer vicinity, better. Lee had to stretch his army long and thin in a seven mile radius. Since Lee was unfamiliar with the North 's terrain,, land, and roads this affected him and his strategies. “Working deaf and blind at Gettysburg, his tactics suddenly turned very rigid.” The end of day two ended in a draw. Both sides had high tides and low tides. As this day was the largest and costliest of the three days in all. It involved more than 100,000 soldiers and roughly 20,000 were killed, wounded, captured, or missing. This day …show more content…
The confrontation began at approximately 12 noon but the struggles between the two began before that. Confederates sent out attacks on Union forces at Cemetery Ridge. By 1:00 p.m. the soldiers were in battle. An hour and a half later, Confederate infantry cease fire. An hour after that, Pickett’s charge goes into effect. 12,000 Confederate soldiers attack Union troops without a sign. The charge ultimately failed. The day was filled with failures from the Confederate forces. The Union was gaining the confidence they so dearly needed from the beginning of the battle. Union gained a victory at Culp’s Hill. The end of day three proved to be a victory for Union troops. With more casualties and wounded men occurring every day, day three resulted in an end to the Battle of Gettysburg. Close to 4,000 Confederate soldiers were captured by the Union. Pickett’s division lost close to seventy percent of its men. The Union forces endured only 1,500 casualties. Proving that Lee’s army was not “invincible” as he numerously

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