Another important anniversary today: July 3rd, 1865 proved to be the most important day of the American Civil War. Outside a small Pennsylvanian town called Gettysburg, the Confederate army of General Robert E. Lee, and the Union army under George Meade, were locked in a fierce pitched battle. July 3rd was the decisive day of the engagement. Its outcome would change the face of the war, and ultimately seal the fate of the Confederacy. Three years earlier, on December 20th 1860, South Carolina declared its secession and independence from the United States of America following the election of Republican President-elect, Abraham Lincoln. By February 4th, 1861, seven southern states had left the Union, and declared their desire to form a decentralized Confederate States of America with a strong constitutional emphasis on states rights. On April 12th, with the naval bombardment of Union-held Fort Sumter on the South Carolina coast by Confederate troops, it was clear that war had broken out between the two nations. The events of the first two years of the war had been, to say the least, unexpected. Industrially out produced 95%-5%, and with a free white population disadvantage of 21-5 million, the Confederates had entirely out-manoeuvred, and entirely out-fought a now-demoralized Union army. The great genius behind the string of Confederate military victories was Robert E. Lee, the ex-Union general who had resigned as he could not bring himself to fight against his beloved home state of Virginia. While he had shocked the North with his early defeat of the invading Union army at Manassas, Virginia in 1861, his latest victory, the rout of the 133,000 man army outside Chancellorsville with only a rag-tag Confederate force of 60,000, was his greatest victory to date. However, the fortunes of the South had begun to change. Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson, right hand to Robert E. Lee, who had the previous year with a force of 17,000 men defeated three Union armies each twice as large as his own in a month long campaign in the Shenandoah Valley, was mistakenly shot and killed by his own men at Chancellorsville. Saddened by the death of his greatest general, Lee pushed on after the retreating Union army, up the same valley Stonewall had fought in the previous year. His goal was to break into Union territory through southern Pennsylvania, to the north west of Washington, D.C. Not only would this put Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington itself in serious danger of being captured by Lees undefeated Army of Northern Virginia, but it would also draw Union forces back to defend their capital, and give the weary countryside of Virginia a respite from constant fighting. If he could manage directly engage the demoralized Union armies, he planned to destroy them. On July 1st, 1861 Lees Confederate army and General Meades Union army brushed up against each other outside Gettysburg in south eastern Pennsylvania. On the first day of the battle, Lees forces crushed untenable forward Union positions guardian the town. Gettysburg fell to the Confederates that day, and Meades army retreated to the south of the city, and set up defensive positions on a series of ridges and hills. It became clear to both commanders that day that a massive engagement was about to be fought. With over 90,000 Union soldiers, and over 70,000 Confederate soldiers streaming into the area that day and night, both sides took up their positions, with the Confederate forces surrounding on three sides a fish hook shaped Union defensive formation. On the second day, Lee tested the flanks of the Union army. To the south of the Gettysburg, a massive assault was launched by Confederate general James Longstreets forces, smashing into the Union left flank. The flanking maneuver failed after Union troops initially retreated to, and then held a fallback line on top of the Little Round Top hill with the help of 20,000 reinforcements scrambled from their more defensible right flank, which had earlier held off a less-concerted Confederate assault. A breakthrough was almost effected, however, the Union line held, and the Confederate attack was eventually called off after sustaining high losses. As night fell over the battlefield, Lee came under the impression that further attacks on either flank would be futile, and decided upon a massive central assault the following day. Lees decision was unpopular among his subordinates, and was clearly lacking the brilliance and dash that had characterized his earlier victories, however the General had made up his mind. The attack was to go ahead as planned. The man he chose to put in charge was the untested Major General George Pickett. At approximately 2:00PM on July 3rd, following a ferocious artillery barrage, Picketts force of 12,500 troops advanced upon the Union center. Caught in a merciless crossfire, Picketts advancing divisions evaporated. After less than an hour, the attack collapsed. As his scattered, retreating troops rushed backwards in unorganized retreat, Lee rode out to meet them exclaiming Its my fault, Its all my fault. When Lee ordered Pickett to reform his division in preparation for the expected Union counter offensive, Pickett replied General Lee, I have no division. The Counterattack never came. As in all previous Union victories, Meade, like his predecessors, failed to chase down and destroy the retreating Confederate force. However, despite this failure to capitalize on the victory, in just 3 days, losses for both sides had reached approximately 23,000 men. But while the Union could replace these men with their vast population, the casualties were unsustainable for the South which could not afford such losses. Thus, the defeat at Gettysburg forced Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia back over the border to Virginia. The second invasion of the North (the first of Lees invasions being stopped at Antietam the previous year), was ended. Lee would never march a large army onto enemy territory again. Washington breathed easily. Three months later, on November 19, 1863, Lincoln would give his famous Gettysburg Address in commemoration of the battle. For the Confederacy, the battle, coupled with the simultaneous fall of the Fort at Vicksburg which had for two years denied the Union control of the Mississippi River, meant that a strictly military solution to the war was now impossible. While strong anti-war attitude in the North would continue until mid-1864 when the Union reached arguably its lowest point, the Battle of Gettysburg marked the beginning of the end of the Confederacy and the restoration of the United States of America. The war wouldnt end until 1865.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 23:10:57 +0000
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