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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: GEO-GNU |
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GETTYSBURG , a borough and the county-seat of Adams county, Pennsylvania
Spring in the vicinity was once a well-known summer resort; its waters contain lithia in solution. Gettysburg has several small manufacturing establishments and is the seat of Pennsylvania
Ridge
Battle of Gettysburg.The battle of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of July 1863 is often regarded as the turning-point of the American Civil War (q.v.) although it arose from a chance encounter. Lee, the commander
commander
Abner Doubleday, was taken over by Gen. 0.0. Howard, the commander of the XI. corps, which took post to bar the way to Ewell on the north side. But Ewell's attack, led by the fiery Jubal Early, swiftly drove back the XI. corps to Gettysburg; the I. corps, with its flank thus laid open, fell back also, and the remnants of both Federal corps retreated through Gettysburg to the Cemetery Hill position. They had lost severely in the struggle against superior numbers, and there had been some disorder in the retreat . Still a formidable line of defence was taken up on Cemetery Hill and both Ewell and Lee refrained from further attacks, for the Confederates had also lost heavily during the day and their concentration was not complete. In the meanwhile Meade had sent forward General W. S. Hancock, the commander of the Federal II. corps, to examine the state of affairs, and on Hancock's report he decided to fight on the Cemetery Hill position. Two corps of his army were still distant, but the XII. arrived before night, the III. was near, and Han-cock moved the II. corps on his own initiative. Headquarters and the artillery reserve started for Gettysburg on the night of the 1st.On the other side, the last divisions of Hill's and Ewell's corps formed up opposite the new Federal position, and Longstreet's corps prepared to attack its left. Owing, however, to misunderstandings between Lee and Longstreet (q.v.), the Confederates did not attack early on the morning of the and, so that Meade's army had plenty of time to make its dispositions. The Federal line at this time occupied the horse-shoe ridge
late
corps Salient was the scene of desperate fighting; and the " Peach Orchard " and the " Devil's Den " became as famous as the " Bloody Angle " of Spottsylvania
late
That no decisive success had been obtained by Lee was clear to all, but Ewell's men on Culp's Hill, and Longstreet's corps below Round Top, threatened to turn both flanks of the Federal position, which was no longer a compact horsehoe but had been considerably prolonged to the left; and many of the units in the Federal army had been severely handled in the two days' fighting. Meade, however, after discussing the eventuality of a retreat with his corps commanders, made up his mind to hold his ground. Lee now decided to alter his tactics. The broken ground near Round Top offered so many obstacles that he decided not to press Longstreet's attack further. Ewell was to resume his attack on Meade's extreme right, while the decisive blow was to be given in the centre (between Cemetery Hill and Trostle's) by an assault delivered in the Napoleonic manner by the fresh troops of Pickett's division (Longstreet's corps). Meade, however, was not disposed to resign Culp's Hill, and with it the command of the Federal line of retreat, to Ewell, and at early dawn on the 3rd a division of the XII. corps, well supported by artillery, opened the Federal counter-attack; the Confederates made a strenuous resistance, but after four hours' hard fighting the other division of the XII. corps, and a brigade of the VI., intervened with decisive effect, and the Confederates were driven off the hill. The defeat of Ewell did not, however, cause Lee to alter his plans. Pickett's division was to lead in the great assault, supported by part of Hill's corps (the latter, however, had already been engaged). Colonel E. P. Alexander, Longstreet's chief
The charge of Pickett's division is one of the most famous episodes of military history. In the teeth of an appalling fire from the rifles of the defending infantry, who were well sheltered, and from the guns which Hunt had reserved for the crisis, the Virginian regiments pressed on, and with a final effort broke Meade's first line. But the strain was too great for the supporting brigades, and Pickett was left without assistance. Hancock made a fierce counterstroke, and the remnant of the Confederates retreated. Of Pickett's own division over three-quarters, 3393 officers and men out of 4500, were left on the field, two of his three brigadiers were killed and the third wounded, and of fifteen regimental commanders ten were killed and five wounded. One regiment lost go% of its numbers. The failure of this assault practically ended the battle; but Lee's line was so formidable that Meade did not in his turn send forward the Army of the Potomac. By the morning of the 5th of July Lee's army was in full retreat for Virginia. He had lost about 30,000 men in killed, wounded and missing out of a total force of perhaps 75,000. Meade's losses were over 23,000 out of about 82,000 on the field. The main body
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