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Gettysburg Turning Point

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The Second Day of Battle in Devil's Den and the Peach Orchard
The Battle of Gettysburg has often been referred to as the turning point of the Civil War. The Union Army had lost many battles to the Confederate Army as the Confederates pushed their way North. General Robert E. Lee was over confident that he could invade the North and defeat the Union Army in their territory. His over confidence may have been his downfall. The second day of battle proved to be the most fierce and deadly of the conflict. It involved heavy maneuvering of troops into positions, and confusion on both sides of the conflict as well as significant casualties between the two armies. The Union forces which the authoritive figure was General Meade, he had around 60,000 troops while the Confederates commanded by General Longstreet had 50,000 troops. There are several things that we learned from …show more content…

The Battle of Gettysburg is considered a turning point. For the rest of the war Lee was on the strategic defensive, forced into the war of attrition he feared and eventually cornered in an unwinnable siege around Richmond. The Battle of Gettysburg was a decisive victory for the Union. Tactically it may have seemed about even. Both armies lost about the same number of men, and Lee kept his army on the field until the evening of the day after the battle, waiting for a counterattack by Meade which never came. But Meade's larger army could better afford the losses. All eight of Lee's Infantry Divisions lost about a third of their strength, while Meade's largest Army Corps was virtually untouched. Lee was almost out of Artillery ammunition, while Meade had enough for another battle. Also Meade had no need to throw himself into a dangerous counterattack; time was on his side as Union reinforcements moved to surround Lee, deep in enemy territory with no hope of

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