Presidential Places:Gettysburg
Today is the 150th anniversary of the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, which was fought from July 1 to 3 of 1863. The battle was fought in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania between Union and Confederate forces during the Civil War. The battle involved the largest number of casualties of the entire war and is considered by many to be the war's turning point.
After his success at the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia in May 1863, Confederate General Robert E. Lee led his army through the Shenandoah Valley to begin his second invasion of the North. With his army's morale high, Lee intended to move the war from northern Virginia and hoped to influence Northern politicians to give up their prosecution of the war by penetrating as far as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, or even Philadelphia.
Lee's Army and the Army of the Potomac, commanded by Major General George Meade collided at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863. Low ridges to the northwest of town were defended initially by a Union cavalry division under Brig. Gen. John Buford, and soon reinforced with two corps of Union infantry. However, two large Confederate corps assaulted them from the northwest and north, collapsing the hastily developed Union lines, sending the defenders retreating through the streets of town to the hills just to the south.
On the second day of battle, most of both armies had assembled. The Union line was laid out in a defensive formation resembling a fishhook. In the late afternoon of July 2, Lee launched a heavy assault on the Union left flank, and fierce fighting raged at Little Round Top, the Wheatfield, Devil's Den, and the Peach Orchard. On the Union right, demonstrations escalated into full-scale assaults on Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill. All across the battlefield, despite significant losses, the Union defenders held their lines.
On the third day of battle, July 3, fighting resumed on Culp's Hill, and cavalry battles raged to the east and south, but the main event was a dramatic infantry assault by 12,500 Confederates against the center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge, known as Pickett's Charge. 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. Between 46,000 and 51,000 soldiers from both armies were casualties in the three-day battle.
That November, President Lincoln used the dedication ceremony for the Gettysburg National Cemetery to honor the fallen Union soldiers and redefine the purpose of the war in his historic Gettysburg Address.
Today the battlefield is the site of Gettysburg National Military Park. The Park includes most of the Gettysburg Battlefield, many of the battle's support areas during the battle, and several other non-battle areas associated with the battle's "aftermath and commemoration". The administrative unit also manages the adjacent Eisenhower National Historic Site subunit and displays a portion of their 43,000 American Civil War artifacts in the Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center.
Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center is the Gettysburg National Military Park facility which displays the 1884 Gettysburg Cyclorama and provides the tour center for Licensed Battlefield Guides and buses to the Gettysburg Battlefield and Eisenhower National Historic Site. The museum displays artifacts including cannon, firearms, uniforms, etc. and includes an exhibit gallery and theater (22-minute A New Birth of Freedom about the American Civil War). Additional facilities are a "computer resource room", a bookstore with gifts, and a restaurant.
Website: http://www.gettysburgfoundation.org/
Location: 1195 Baltimore Pike, Gettysburg, PA 17325
Hours of Operation: November – March: 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.; April – October: 8 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/GettysburgVisitorCenter
Twitter: @visitgettysburg
After his success at the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia in May 1863, Confederate General Robert E. Lee led his army through the Shenandoah Valley to begin his second invasion of the North. With his army's morale high, Lee intended to move the war from northern Virginia and hoped to influence Northern politicians to give up their prosecution of the war by penetrating as far as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, or even Philadelphia.
Lee's Army and the Army of the Potomac, commanded by Major General George Meade collided at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863. Low ridges to the northwest of town were defended initially by a Union cavalry division under Brig. Gen. John Buford, and soon reinforced with two corps of Union infantry. However, two large Confederate corps assaulted them from the northwest and north, collapsing the hastily developed Union lines, sending the defenders retreating through the streets of town to the hills just to the south.
On the second day of battle, most of both armies had assembled. The Union line was laid out in a defensive formation resembling a fishhook. In the late afternoon of July 2, Lee launched a heavy assault on the Union left flank, and fierce fighting raged at Little Round Top, the Wheatfield, Devil's Den, and the Peach Orchard. On the Union right, demonstrations escalated into full-scale assaults on Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill. All across the battlefield, despite significant losses, the Union defenders held their lines.
On the third day of battle, July 3, fighting resumed on Culp's Hill, and cavalry battles raged to the east and south, but the main event was a dramatic infantry assault by 12,500 Confederates against the center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge, known as Pickett's Charge. 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. Between 46,000 and 51,000 soldiers from both armies were casualties in the three-day battle.
That November, President Lincoln used the dedication ceremony for the Gettysburg National Cemetery to honor the fallen Union soldiers and redefine the purpose of the war in his historic Gettysburg Address.
Today the battlefield is the site of Gettysburg National Military Park. The Park includes most of the Gettysburg Battlefield, many of the battle's support areas during the battle, and several other non-battle areas associated with the battle's "aftermath and commemoration". The administrative unit also manages the adjacent Eisenhower National Historic Site subunit and displays a portion of their 43,000 American Civil War artifacts in the Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center.
Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center is the Gettysburg National Military Park facility which displays the 1884 Gettysburg Cyclorama and provides the tour center for Licensed Battlefield Guides and buses to the Gettysburg Battlefield and Eisenhower National Historic Site. The museum displays artifacts including cannon, firearms, uniforms, etc. and includes an exhibit gallery and theater (22-minute A New Birth of Freedom about the American Civil War). Additional facilities are a "computer resource room", a bookstore with gifts, and a restaurant.
Website: http://www.gettysburgfoundation.org/
Location: 1195 Baltimore Pike, Gettysburg, PA 17325
Hours of Operation: November – March: 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.; April – October: 8 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/GettysburgVisitorCenter
Twitter: @visitgettysburg