Gettysburg (CG 64) - Naval Cruise Book

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forces rlong Semin try Ridge facing east toward Union positions. By dawn both armies were deployed along a three mile line running south from Gettysburg On the moming of 7 July General Lee, observing the disposition of Union forces along Cemetery Ridge, decided to use General James Longstreet s Infantry Corps to attack the left side of the Union line that was on a small hill known locally as Little Round Top. Lee was convinced that the best chance of success lay in surprising the Union forces on Little Round Top and allowed Longstreet to spend most of the day trying to L maneuver his corps into position for the attack while remaining concealed behind a low ridge. This effort at , conce rlment was ultimately unsuccessful and cost the Confederates the better part of the day. The Confederate attack on Little Round Top finally got underway toward themiddle of the aftenroon on 2 July. The Confederates advanced on the Union positions on a rocky outcropping known as Devil's Den that was at the base of Little Round Top The fighting was fierce and casualties wereheavy on both sides. As this attack took place General Longstreet continued to try to convince Lee to stop the attack and move around the Union flank. As the light faded the Confederates repeatedly charged up through the rocks and woods of Little Round A Top s slopes, and were continuously driven back. . The 20th Maine Regiment commanded by Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlain held the extreme left end of the ' y Union position on Little Round Top. As the 'Confederates continued to make repeated attacks, Colonel p aChamberlain's men ran out of ammunition. Knowing the importance of his position and determined not to let Confederates overrun it, Chamberlain had his menffix bayonets and charge down the hill. This action A and overwhelmed the Confederates and they retreated in dismay. This brought the battle for Little 1. Top to a dramatic conclusion. 0. 0 .ett Q' , p . V A y f , f A the night, Longstreet tried to convince Lee to maneuver into a more favorable position but Lee .decided . , . x Z L T x ' W . . D ' 9 ' I 1 7 . , t . ' rv K . . . . ' 9 f L . r 1 v 1 . , . . . 1 . 9 I press the attack with a bold infantry attackon the center of the Union line. Lee's plan was to use three o .. D divisions in a frontal assault on the Union center and split the Union line in halfg Longstreet was T A pen fields toward Union positions thatwere well established by this time - but Longstreet duly began A A the attack. A s J f ' p - . I On the moming of 3 July the Confederate artillery opened up on the Union center and continued their barrage: for almost an hour. J General Meade avoided the temptation to use his artillery in a counter-barrage and held of his cannon in reserve for the Confederate infantry attack he knew would follow. At the conclusion of , the cannonade, some 15,000 Confederate infantrymen began advancing toward the Union position on Cemetery Ridge. s V , y T This attack has become known as Pickett's Charge after General George Pickett, one of the more colorful' p r Confederate generals whose division participated in the attack. The Confederate troops advanced bravely despite murderous tire from Union cannons and infantrymen. The Confederate troops wet abgle tlp break' D rn through the first line of Union defenses but could do nothing else. Exhausted and outnum ere , t e remain g Confederate troops fell back. The Confederate troops suffered almost 70'Za casualties. The farthest pomt up Cemetery Ridge that the Confederates were able to advance has become known as the high water mark of the Confederacy. ' t . With Pickett's char e the Battle of Gettysburg came to a dramatic conclusion. Although the Confederates S , organized their troops to oppose an expected Union counterattack, General Meade ordered no such attack. On the evening of 4 J uly, General Lee made the decision to withdraw. Q - In the three da s of fighting, the two armies suffered more than 50.000 casualties tkrlled. wounded and y . missingi. Although it was immediately apparent that Gettysburg had been a Confederate' defeat, it was not until later in the war that the real significance of the battle was appreciated. Today. the battle is widely recognized as - ' '- ' 1 f l ' ' the reservation the tuming point of the Civil War and a milestone in our country s history, ultimate y ensuring p of the American Republic. 1- W-, Y y -5-sung ' - .3..g--.-as-1-..-,....,..,--....-..... .. ,...... .vp . ' -av-v ' that this attack had littlechance of success - the troops would have to move more than a mile ,across rr,.'q 1

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BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 1-3 JULY 1863 b s a climactic moment in our nation's history. The battle is wide wa' The Battle of Geuys mg h 1 h h the Civil War lasted another two years after Gettysbl lUm1niP0'ntEfC?Ftg:QggZcgf wrifrnglg The story of the battle is one of the great dramas of o Confe eracy 21 1 ' In late Spfmg of 1863 the Con C g b t ve of this cam ai n w N h V r mia The military 0 jec 1 p g PSHHSJ ll mm mth mb Army of on em I g t to threaten Phrladel hra into southeastern Pennfl Wamfl cmd be ln '3 POS' 'On P history' . f deraie ovemment decided to have General Robert E. Lee mo cw . I 1 3 . . - . . . - ' ' ' 3 f . Th C J . ?lYriiSlwlalg1ClFeaIdyt?simrrieIf?nLlin the North and to put political pressure on President Lincoln to C to the war they would Th Confederacy also hoped that by demonstrating its ability to invade the North 6 B t and France to give the Confederacy formal diploma finally convince Great rr arn and perhaps even enter the war as Confederate allies. ' 9 , L I C A . ' . , . , , , Lee 5-mm mm, l't' al ob'ective of the campaign was to build on public drsrllusromn 9 ' . ' U e I . 1 f june General Lee began moving his army of some 75,000 men from central Virginia Blue Ridge late June, General Lee's Anny was across the Potomac and advance infantry units had moved miles of Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania. General Lee sent General Jeb Stuart ahead infantry forces with instructions to screen his advance and bring back information about the Union Army of the Potomac. On the Northem side, President Lincoln, frustrated by the lack of a decisive response on the n ear y Mountains so that he could move the army north across the Potomac River mto P ,o u ' m P1 u command of General George G. Meade. Meade's instructions were to ensure that he kept hrs between General Lee's army and Washington and try to engage the Confederate army rn a d General Meade had good intelligence about General Lee s movements and ordered his army t in the direction of Gettysburg. As the Northem Anny began to approach General Lee's forces, Lee had no knowledge ofthe generals, relieved the general in command of the Army of the Potomac and placed that army , ' ec I . . , . t 1 t was not until the night of 30 June that Lee learned from a Confederate spy that Meade s arm toward him and that an advance Union Cavalry force occupied Gettysburg only 30 miles awa mountain ridge to the east Lee hastily issued orders to his infantry corps to change direction Gettysburg gn the mommg of 1 July, General Lee's troops made contact with Union Cavalry troops und heneral John Buford. Buford, recognizing the tactical importance of the geography around is men to drsmount and take up defensive positions along Willoughby Run, northwest of Ge General Stuart had' moved far ahead of the Confederate infantry force and had lost contact wi . I A . , . , I 1 ' E G 1 c Alt - - . . . meg-Oeuagilhe 'Confederate troops instructions were only to investigate the report of Union for 2 mess to ight led them to immediately attack the Union position. Throughout the rn more and more , . . . Confederate troops poured across the mountains and put pressure on the Unroi Specs, gust as the Union defenses were ready to break, General John Reynolds arrived with for e e' d ' dguere Umm Cavalry- Throughout the aftemoon Confederate troops converged on the north and west h'l ' , ' . . of the town Althouxghlgegglorlffoops raced up from the southeast to set up defensive posmc General Ewell the general utah' ee ordered an immediate attack to prevent the Unionrlines fl' h f ' .,. . . L 'USC Of lh1S Portion of the Confederate line, did not organizer Dig tall, e Hdms The possibility of further action. Throughout the ' ht h ' . just south of Geglib 't e Umm Army moved fapldly to develop defensive positions along C y mg' on the Confederate Side, General Lee deployed his 2 ly

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GETTYSBURG ADDRESS President Abraham Lincoln Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 19 NGV 1863 l Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this con a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. p y p i Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether? that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can lO1'1gq'Q11dl,lI6f,lVV6'21I'C met r on a great battle-field of that war. We have come, to adcdvicatciq portion of that field, as a final resting place, for those who herergavei their lives that nation might live. lt is altogether fitting andrpropcif this. l r s r i s A y g i But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate--we can not hallow-f-this ground, The brave men, struggled here, havefconsecrated fit, far above our detract. The world will little note, nor long i but it cannever forget what they here. It is be dedicated hereto the aunfinishepdworkwhicha i thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to great taskremaining before us that fromthese' increased devotion to that cause forwhich they gaverthe of devotion - that we here highly resolve that not died in vam -- that this nation, under God, shall 0 p freedom - and that govemment of the people,'by people, shall not perish from the earth. i , he eg A r 4