American Civil War Essay: Battle of Gettysburg
I. American Civil War: Battle of Gettysburg
The battle of Gettysburg is amongst the battles recorded during the American Civil War and accounts for the largest quantity of causalities ever to occur in the history of American society. The battle of Gettysburg commenced in the year 1863 on the month of July for only three days. The war began on July 1 and ended on the 3rd of the same month. For the main reason of the greatest number of causalities obtained throughout the war, it absolutely was vivid that the people of America known the battle of Gettysburg as the turning point for the country (Burgan 63). The army of the Potomac, under the leadership of General George Gordon Meade, defeated the Army of Northern Virginia, that has been headed by General Robert Lee.
Even though General Robert Lee had invaded the majority of the parts of United states, his entire army was stopped and all his attacks backfired, hence forcing the Army of the North to retreat. Just after defeating the war in 1963 in Chancellorsville in Virginia, General Lee chose to head to Gettysburg through Shenandoah and influence the politician in the North. It absolutely was an added advantage to him since his politicians were all fit and full of spirit, willing to face any enemy due to the victory received from the last fight (Haskell 51). The important thing aim of General Lee was to influence the Northern politician in to giving up the fight, thus penetrating in to Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and even Harrisburg. However , right now, president Abraham Lincoln pushed the army in pursuit of the Army of Northern Virginia under General Meade after firing General Joseph Hooker. The two armies collided on 1 July in Gettysburg, going through the 2nd day and ending on the 3rd day (Allison 26).
II. First day of battle
July 1, 1963 was the initial day of the battle of Gettysburg whereby General Lee assembled his entire army and attacked Gettysburg with the purpose of destroying the opposing army after engaging strongly along with his army. The initial day of the battle was probably the most vital day that involved a vigorous war between your two conflicting armies. Relating to the files, it had been estimated that approximately 1 / 3 of Lee’s army, which amounted to 27, 000 soldiers and approximately 22, 000 men, engaged in the fighting (Burgan 71). Although the amount of soldiers of General Lee’s army was higher they had engaged in the war the initial, a resistance force was obtained from Meade’s army which contributed to the successful nature of the North’s army.
Having prior knowledge that the confederates would emerge from the west marching in to Gettysburg on the morning of July 1, the army of Meade formed a defense in three distinct positions in nature that would offer resistance to General Lee’s approaching army. The three ridges of defense located in the West of the city were Seminary Ridge, Herr Ridge, and McPherson Ridge. The obstruction of Lee’s army by the three ridges would create sufficient time to establish territory vital in fighting defensively against invading enemies. Buying time is among the war tricks that is currently used in wars and enables the armies to gain more ground (Haskell 70). The more enough time is offered to the army, the enemies will will have surprises when ambushing the army. This is actually the key trick that was engaged by Meade’s army to handle the attacks from Lee’s army in the first day. Upon reaching Gettysburg, Lee’s army had been ambushed in the three ridges ergo already weakened.
III. Second day of battle
1. Plans and movement to battle
Because the battle of Gettysburg contains large numbers of soldiers, not all elements of the infantry of both armies were able to arrive on July 1 ) For this reason, a lot of the armies arrived on the evening of first and the morning of July 2. The next, third, fourth and fifth unions arrived and the XII Corps arrived on July 2, hence the war commencing to the next day. The next day was the main day in which the battle of Gettysburg actually occurred. This is because all the participating armies had arrived promptly to face the war. The union line occupied Culp’s Hill, that is found in the northwest of Gettysburg. The XII Corps was the primary occupier of the Culp’s Hill while XI and I occupied the rest of the cemetery hill (Haskell 83). The II and III Corps occupied the rest of the half of the cemetery ridge and contributed to the fishhook form of the Union army. The Union line was parallel to the Confederate line emerging West on Seminary Ridge curving to the contrary of Culp’s Hill.
The initial plan of Lee’s army was to put the Longstreet’s First Corps to attack the Union from the left flank. The order of the attack was to commence with John Bell Hood, who had his army and Lafayette division. The 3rd plan was the army headed by General Richard, which was to occupy the Hill division, hence reinforcing the attack of the complete army. The primary aim of splitting the army into the three main divisions was to avoid General Meade from splitting up his troops and spreading them in to the battlefield (Vierow 64). The program of Lee establishing the next division was to create a demonstration against the federal troops and attack the army if any opportunity emerged.
2. Attacks on the Union left flank
General Meade was forced to strengthen his army with very nearly 20, 000 soldiers after receiving information that the Longstreet division was attacking Union III Corps. The 20, 000 soldiers encompassed the entire Caldwell division, that will be the II Corps and XII and the newly recruited soldier forming the VI Corps. The plan obtained from General Lee wasn't adhered to by most of the divisions consisting of Hood’s division, which decided to move easterly, thus creating more room for the penetration of the confederate army (Burgan 121).
The penetration of the federal army to the territory of the Union army was a major blow to Lee’s army following the attacking of the Devil’s Den. Throughout the attack on the Union left flank, the III Corps was destroyed and the leading general’s leg was amputated. The whole division was destroyed thus killing just about all the soldiers in the troop. In Wheatfield, Caldwell troop was equally destroyed, thus the majority of the soldiers in the troop were killed. It absolutely was a difficult moment for Lee’s army since most of the soldiers faced massive resistance from the federal army (Haskell 95).
Throughout the attacks in Wheatfield, less attention was focused on Little Round Top, hence it gave an opportunity to Colonel Vincent Strong to take over the hill. It was a great window of opportunity for the federal army, which insured that the other members of the fighting force faced enough resistance. The hill was important to Meade’s army as it gave a bird’s view of the battlefield, thus enabling the army to look at oncoming enemies…
