Gettysburg Turning Point

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Battle of Gettysburg: Turning Point for the U.S.

After Lee’s victory at the Battle of Chancellorsville,Virginia, in May 1863, Lee wanted to lead his Confederate army in their second invasion of the North the Gettysburg Campaign. Lee wanted to threaten Northern cities, weaken the North’s appetite for war and, especially win a major battle on Northern soil. Maj. Gen. Meade moved the Northern army between Lee and Washington D.C. When Lee found out the Meade was in Pennsylvania, Lee concentrated all of his army around Gettysburg (www.civilwar.org). Most people know that the Battle of Gettysburg was an enormous battle in the U.S at the time. When Lee had the crazy idea to take the fighting into Northern soil thats when everything was at stake
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The charge was repulsed by Union rifle and artillery fire, at great losses to the Confederate army. Lee led his army on a torturous retreat back to Virginia. President Lincoln used the dedication ceremony for Gettysburg Soldiers National Cemetery to honor the fallen Union soldiers and redefine the purpose of war in his historic Gettysburg Address (www.civilwar.org). This was a giant win for the Union and that it showed how the North wasn’t going to roll over and die because the South wanted to take the fighting into the Northern states. Pickett’s Charge was a very beautiful moment because the Confederate soldiers ran a mile and a half to go fight the Union. As the Union watched in silence at Culp’s Hill all they could think about is that this is it and that they are coming in guns hot. Artillery broke the silence and then the shots of rifles went off right after them. Man after man dropped dead and the South soon then realized that they were in a bad situation. After the Union have killed off all the 12,000 soldiers trying to take out the center of the Union army Lee had his men retreat. The North then knew that the fighting was not going into Northern soil and that their families were safe. Also, they realized how big of …show more content…
because it kept the South from invading the North. A lot of people don’t really show respect to how many men died trying to protect their freedom, 51,000 men died from both South and North trying to fight for what they believed in and also for what they thought was right. The National Cemetery for the Union army was also a very big thing to people as it is today. The Cemetery was used in a movie called “Remember the Titans”. The movie had a coach have his kids go on a run and when the run was over they were all stopped at this National Cemetery, the kids had both whites and blacks they didn’t get along so when the coach took them to this Cemetery he told them that all of these men died next to their brothers and that it didn’t matter if you were black or white when the time came you were all going to fight next to each other and if so die next to each other. The Nation Cemetery really helped a lot of people realize how much this battle meant, they also realized that the Battle of Gettysburg will never be forgotten. Gettysburg was such a turning point because it soon led up to the South surrendering and North becoming the winners it also led to blacks being free from slavery. Overall, the Battle of Gettysburg was probably one of the greats battles that the U.S. has ever been in and by that it was also one of the biggest turning points for the Civil War and the U.S.

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