Why Robert E. Lee Won The Battle Of Gettysburg

The Civil War was a conflict that was fought between the United States of America (Union) and The Confederate States of America between 1861 through 1865. There were many battles that were fought within the Civil War that were considered significant battles in American history like The Battle of Bull Run or The battle of Vicksburg. However, The Battle of Gettysburg proves to be the most meaningful battle within the Civil War. The Battle of Gettysburg was Robert E. Lee’s most ambitious attempt to try and invade Union territory. After this battle the Confederate’s military never held the same amount of strength they held at Gettysburg. General Robert E. Lee’s first attempt to win at The Battle of Antietam was a failure. So in June 1863, General Lee decided to try again. This time he would march North to Pennsylvania and have the Union army of Potomac pursue him. When they did follow him Lee would chose a ground that would terrify the Northern Union and impress the British …show more content…
Lee was accustomed to the daring strategies of J.E.B. Stuart, but Stuart’s decision to ride around the Union army would prove to be costly. Stuart’s ride took longer than he had anticipated and for three pivotal days Lee had heard nothing from Stuart. Since Lee had heard nothing from Stuart he decided to march into enemy territory without knowing where the Union army was positioned. Lee was surprised to hear on June 28th that the Union army was closer to Gettysburg than he had previously anticipated. When the attack was first planned Lee’s goal was to pick the ground on which they had fought on. Now since they were short on information, Lee was forced to gather his army and attack at a position that he wasn’t truly comfortable with. The decision to fight at Gettysburg was made by a small cavalry of Confederate soldiers that had went into town looking for saddles and shoes. They had ran into a group of Northern soldiers and was forced to fight their way back to their