The Battle of Gettysburg was fought from July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point. Union Major General George Meade's Army of the Potomac defeated attacks by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, ending Lee's invasion of the North. Between 46,000 and 51,000 soldiers from both armies were casualties in the three-day battle.
When the news of the US defeat in the 1st Battle of the North Pacific was broken to the general public, along with German advances in Russia and North Africa, newscaster Lowell Thomas reminded his listeners that the upcoming Fourth of July would be the most anxious in the nation's history since 1863, when the armies of the North and South had just clashed at Gettysburg.
In the years following the Second American Revolution, Robert E. Lee still vividly remembered the fiasco at Gettysburg. However, "Pickett's Charge" was the one decision that haunted him the most.
Some of the last surviving veterans of the Battle of Gettysburg gathered for a reunion in Richmond in 1932, John Houston Thorpe among them. When Pickett's Charge was discussed, Thorpe reminded the other veterans of James Johnston Pettigrew's men, a number which included him. One man said that George Pickett got the name because his men got to the top of the hill and in amongst the Yankees, and Pettigrew's men didn't. Thorpe replied that Pickett's men only got to the top because Pettigrew's men shielded them with their bodies. He began to feel anger over this 69-year-old event, but checked himself and managed a laugh.[1]
United States
Confederate States
George G. Meade
Robert E. Lee
