FREE ESSAY ON GETTYSBURG

GETTYSBURG

The Battle of Gettysburg
Damon Pisani Grade 7
4/21/99 Mrs. Pignato
Table of Contents
1. Outline
2. Introduction
3. Text/The Body
4. Conclusion.
5. List of illustrations
6. Appendix
7. Bibliography
Outline
Generals
-North, Meade
-South, Lee
Charges
-Pickets Charge
Armies
-South, 65,000
-North,85,000
Strategies
-South tried to get to Washington to cut the rail lines and take over the capital
-North-To intercept the south to stop the invasion
Introduction
The Battle of Gettysburg was the largest battle of the civil war and, also the largest
battle ever fought in the western hemisphere. Many people died during this fight. If you
were in it you had a one out of three chance of either being killed, captured, or
wounded.
The Battle of Gettysburg is considered by most historians the turning point of the Civil
War. It lasted July first through the third, eighteen sixty three.
Leaders
The two generals of the armies were General George C. Meade, leader of the North army and
General Robert E. Lee. Other important leaders were General Hancock, of the North.
General John Buffered. For the south, General James Longstreet and Richard Ewell.
Start of the Battle
Things were going bad for the south because General Grant put a siege on Vicksburg,
Mississippi. If Vicksburg surrendered the North would control the Mississippi and the
South would be cut in half. Lee's strategy was to invade the North to draw troops away
from Vicksburg and to try to get to Washington and capture it.
General Meade knew that Lee was somewhere in the north but not exactly where. Lee knew
that Meade was looking for his army but he didn't where Meade was. On the morning of July
first by chance. The North came to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania from south and the South came
in from the north. It started as a small battle and soon the North was outnumbered.
Reinforcements came for both sides. The North had over 85,000 troops and the South had
65,000. The battle started outside of town. General Buford and his Calvary tried to hold
of the South but they had to retreat into the town because there were so many
Southerners. The first reinforcements to arrive were lead by General Renalds but he was
shot in the head shortly after he arrived. This was a great loss to the North because he
was a very popular and important general. By the end of the first day things got very bad
for the North and they had to retreat all the way through the town. The North searched
for a good place to defend themselves and found it. It was called Cemetary Hill. The
South also found a good position at Seminary Ridge. The south won the first days battle.
Day Two