American Civil War: Battle of Gettysburg

American Civil War: Battle of Gettysburg

In June of 1863, Confederate General Robert E. Lee took his army of Northern Virginia into the north for the second time. The Union commander, George Gordon Meade, was in pursuit. They would ultimately bump into each other here at Gettysburg.

Behind me is the town of Gettysburg, around which the Battle of Gettysburg will be fought. The Battle of Gettysburg started by accident. Literally, troops bumped into each other. General Lee heard that Meade was pursuing him, and Lee concentrated his army. The Union vanguard is already here as well, and they're going to bang into each other north and west of town on McPherson's Ridge.

It's an intense fight. Ultimately, the fight will grow, until north of town, you're going to have the Union XI Corps fighting against the corps under a guy named Richard Ewell. In the end, you're going to have 30,000 Confederates outflank and whip 18,000 Union troops, who retreat back through town to Cemetery Hill, and to Culp's Hill, where we stand now.

And for the next 24 hours, all that happens is that both sides bring the remainder of their troops here, until the Yankees have maybe 90,000 troops, and the Southerners have maybe 70,000 troops. And the Yankees form in the shape of a fishhook. And we are right here on this fishhook, at the end of Culp's Hill here. The Union line will continue along Cemetery Hill behind me, to Cemetery Ridge, and eventually end over on Little Round Top.

The Southerners line up around that line, basically formed on the most distant tree line you can see way off in the distance, OK? If General Lee needs to go from one side of his army to the other, it's six miles. Meade only has to go two and half. Meade is also on the defensive. Meade has more men on a more compact line, and Lee is more strung out. And Meade, finally, has the home field advantage.

On the second day of the battle, Robert E. Lee decided to take 15, 20,000 troops under James Longstreet and attack the Union left. And take maybe 5 to 10,000 and attack Culp's Hill. But the attack on the Union left flank took place first, and the Southerners are going to have to get over there without being seen, opposite the Union line.

Ultimately, the Southern line will attack what's called an echelon, where a couple of brigades moved in, and then a couple more, and a couple more. And ultimately, Longstreet's men will make fierce attacks. First they'll fight at Devil's Den, and Little Round Top, and then onto the wheatfield. And then they actually have found a gap in the middle of the Union line, troops that had gone to reinforce some of the fighting in other areas. But the Confederates can't quite push through it, because wherever they show up, Union reinforcements from inside Meade's strong fishhook position arrive and push the Southerners back.

Ultimately, the bloodiest fighting at Gettysburg, the second day on the south end, will come to a close without a decisive result. And while Longstreet is attacking the Union left flank, the Confederates are beginning a huge artillery bombardment on the Union right flank, here on Culp's Hill. That bombardment wouldn't do anything. The Confederate attack doesn't come for long, until long after, actually, the fighting on the Union left flank is mostly over.

Ultimately, the Southerners will try to attack East Cemetery Hill. They capture part of East Cemetery Hill. They capture nine cannons. This is the key Union position at East Cemetery Hill, and it's about to fall to the Confederates. But again, Union reinforcements push the Confederates back.

The Confederates have a little bit more success here on Culp's Hill. Culp's Hill consists of two hills, an upper hill and a lower hill. This is night fighting, very odd in the Civil War. The Confederates easily capture the lower hill, but they're unable to capture the pinnacle of Culp's Hill.

The next day, the fighting resumes where the Confederates try to capture upper Culp's Hill. The Yankees return with even more reinforcements, not only recapturing their old trenches on lower Culp's Hill that they had lost, but maintaining their possession of upper Culp's Hill. On the third day, having already tested the Union left flank and the Union right flank, the Confederates opted to attack the Union center. And this is what we now know as Pickett's Charge.

Pickett's Charge is going to take place in the fields behind me, and on the afternoon of July 3rd, you're eventually going to have a great moan go up from the Union line. This is after a huge artillery bombardment, but the moan comes not from that, but rather from the beauty and pageantry of a great Confederate assault. 12,000 troops advancing across that field you can see over my shoulder.

The Yankees decimated with long-range artillery. And as they reach the road, Union reinforcements pour into the area. The Union flank falls down. The Confederates are going to get flanked, but nonetheless, they push on impetuously, gain some of the key stone wall in the area. The Yankees are able to, however, push them back. 6,000 of the 12,000 soldiers who made the attack were killed, wounded, or captured. Lee lost 23 battle flags in that attack, more than he'd lost up to that point in a war combined.

Robert E. Lee horribly failed in Pickett's Charge, but the next day, he still stayed here through the rain, across the fields, faced George Gordon Meade, and said, come on, Meade, attack me. Meade did not take the bait. That night, Robert E. Lee pulled back through the mountains. Nine days later, escaped back into Virginia, and the Civil War goes on for almost two more years

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