Battle+of+Gettysburg

=The Battle of Gettysburg=

Page authors: Marisa P, Josh, Shea, Will, Julia Vah, Jessica Page editor: Mrs. Z

====Gettysburg (town) / Battlefield Terrain / Gettysburg Campaign / Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3 / Gettysburg citizens / Gettysburg Address====

=The borough of Gettysburg=

The borough of [|Gettysburg] was established in the late 1700's by James Gettys. By 1800, the borough became the seat of Adams County. Gettysburg was primarily a farming community, but there was some light industry. At the time of the battle, there were about 2,400 residents of the borough. There were ten roads radiating from the town square, and it was this road network that contributed to the concentration the Confederate and Union armies on July 1,1863.

=Battlefield Terrain=

The area west of the town of Gettysburg is a series of ridges. On the second and third days of the battle, the Confederates were lined up on [|Seminary Ridge]. It is named Seminary Ridge after the Lutheran Theological Seminary, which was located on the ridge. The Union Army was lined up on [|Cemetery Ridge], about a mile across from Seminary Ridge. It is called Cemetery Ridge because the town's cemetery, Evergreen Cemetery, is located on a hill near the ridge.

There were also hills outside of the town. [|Cemetery Hill] is at one end of Cemetery Ridge and [|Little Round Top] is at the other end. Little Round Top is the smaller of two hills at the end of the ridge. The other hill is Big Round Top. Flag signalers stood on top of the hills to send commands to their armies. Another nearby hill is [|Culp's Hil]l.

Across from Little Round Top is a rocky area known as [|Devil's Den]. It is covered with trees and shrubs, but the main feature of Devil's Den is the massive pile of boulders. Devil's Den had a significant part in the second day of fighting at Gettysburg. The area was first held by Union Artillery, but they lost their position to the Confederates. The pile of boulders supplied protection for the Confederate soldiers. They could fire at the Union soldiers and not be harmed when they fired back. The legend of Devil's Den is that a huge snake-like monster lived in the rocks. The locals gave it the name Devil's Den because of it's appearance. During the fighting soldiers allegedly saw the monster. =Gettysburg Campaign=

Early in June 1863, Major General Joseph Hooker, the Commander of the Union Army of the Potomac, was informed that [|General Robert E. Lee's] Confederate Army of Northern Virginia had been seen moving westward from Fredericksburg, Virginia. Lee was planning to fight in the North. He invaded Pennsylvania. General Hooker had a disagreement with President Lincoln. Lincoln replaced Hooker with [|General George Gordon Meade] on June 28, 1863, only several days before the battle. [|Read about other generals.]

=Day 1 - July 1, 1863=

[|John Buford], a Union Calvary general, was the first to come across the Confederates. His dismounted cavalry were positioned northwest of Gettysburg. He saw Confederate General Henry Heth's soldiers and sent for reinforcements. Miles away, Union [|Gen. John Reynolds] led his First Corps to the sound of battle. The Confederate infantrymen were beating John Buford and his cavalry. Reynolds came just in time to save Buford. The Confederate attack then stalled. Both sides called for reinforcements and Confederate [|Gen. Richard Ewell's] Second Corps forces hit the Union army on two sides. The Union attack then fell apart. Meanwhile, the Iron Brigade of the Union First Corps was fighting a brigade of soldiers from North Carolina. The Union soldiers crammed the streets of the town as they retreated to Cemetery Hill. The surviving Union soldiers gathered atop Cemetery Hill. Lee spotted them and asked Gen. Ewell to attack the Union position on Cemetery Hill. Ewell declined because his men were exhausted.

At the end of the [|first day] of battle, the Union troops occupied the high ground of Cemetery Hill and Cemetery Ridge outside of town. The Confederate Army occupied the town of Gettysburg and Seminary Ridge.

=Day 2 - July 2, 1863=

General Lee was determined to crush the Union on Day 2, but General Lee did not plan the battle to go the way it did in our history. The Confederate Army was on Seminary Ridge on the morning of the second day of the battle and the Union Army was at Cemetery Ridge. There were several attempts by the Confederates to break the Union line throughout the day.

One of General Lee's corps commanders, General Longstreet wanted General Lee to move the rebels around Gen. Meade's flank (the very end of the line of soldiers) and made a position between the Union and Washington. General Lee refused to consider this and ordered General Longstreet to follow the plan that Lee had decided upon. Lee wanted Longstreet's men to attack at 11:00 a.m., but because of delays in the moving troops, Longstreet did not attack until almost 4:00 p.m. His men attacked at Little Round Top, Devil's Den, the Wheatfield, and the Peach Orchard.

Union Third Corps Gen. Dan Sickles moved his corps out from Cemetery Ridge to the Peach Orchard. This was a dangerous move for his corps and it left Little Round Top unoccupied. The Confederates realized that and saw that they could bombard the Union army with cannon fire from atop there. Union Gen. Gouverneur Warren noticed that Little Round Top was unoccupied. He began to organize his men. The Union and Confederate armies fired desperately at each other. At the end of the fighting 17,000 men died for both sides combined.

General Ewell's corps attacked the Union Army at Culp's Hill at the same time that General Longstreet's men were fighting. General A.P.Hill's corps attacked the center of the Union line.

At the end of the second day of battle, the Confederate Army was still on Seminary Ridge and the Union Army still occupied Cemetery Hill, Cemetery Ridge and Culp's Hill. General Robert Lee was set on another day of fighting.

=Day 3 - July 3, 1863=

In the morning General Lee ordered that the Confederate artillery fire on the Union army. They fired 140 cannons at the Union army. Then Confederate General. George Pickett ordered 12,000 men to march toward Cemetery Ridge, and attack the center of the Union line. General Lee believed that the Union Army was weakest at that position. Their line stretched out across the valley. That left the Union artillerymen ready to fire at an open target. As Pickett's men neared 100 yards, the Union opened up fire. Then two Union regiments swung around the Confederate soldiers and raked its flanks. Facing musket fire on each side the charge was beginning to fall apart. Gen. Lewis Armstead led a small group of Confederate soldiers to break into Union lines. They swung their rifles like clubs and officers used pistols to fire short range. Armstead fell because he was hit by several bullets. Most of his men were either killed or captured. General Lee called Pickett for a counter attack and Pickett replied, "I have no division."

The total amount of wounded,missing, and killed soldiers for the Union army was 23,040 soldiers. For the Confederates, it was suspected to be as much as 28,000 soldiers.

=Gettysburg Citizens=

John Burns
[|John Burns] was a 70 year old man at the time of the battle of Gettysburg. Despite his age, Burns went

[[image:burns width="165" height="231" align="right" caption="Burns statue"]]
off and joined the Union Army in battle. He was the oldest person to take part in the battle. After asking the officer of the regiment, he fought alongside the Iron Brigade. Some time later Burns received an injury and was out for the rest of the battle. He miraculously survived and the victorious Confederates let him walk right home thinking that he wasn't a threat. Later Burns met the president and was immediately given the stature of a national hero. He now has a statue in Gettysburg honoring him.

Jennie Wade
Mary Virginia Wade, also known as Jennie or Jenna, was the only civilian killed during the Battle of Gettysburg. She was staying at her sister's house, which was on the battlefield. On the morning of July 3, 1863, she was baking bread for the Union soldiers when she was struck by a single bullet that traveled through two wooden doors and killed her instantly. She was 20 years old when she died.

=The Gettysburg Address=

-President Lincoln went to Gettysburg. -He was overlooking the cemetary and delivered an address. -The address was about the people who had died of defending. -He said that the war was testing whether a nation can long endure. By: Josh Gelenberg
 * __Gettysburg Address__**