How the Battle of Gettysburg Turned the Tide of the Civil War

In the first days of July 1863, two great armies converged at the small town of Gettysburg, in southern Pennsylvania. Begun as a skirmish between Union cavalry and Confederate infantry scouting for supplies, the battle escalated into one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War.

The Union’s eventual victory in the Battle of Gettysburg would give the North a major morale boost and put a definitive end to Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s bold plan to invade the North. Widely viewed as a key turning point in the war, the battle would take on even more importance later that year, when President Abraham Lincoln traveled to Gettysburg to dedicate the battlefield’s cemetery.
“The first shot of the battle is fired a little bit after 7:00 in the morning,” Murray says. “Neither Meade nor Lee look to Gettysburg on a map and say, we're going to fight there. It begins as an accident, and then it escalates.”

The first day of fighting appeared to be another Confederate victory, as the rebels drove their Yankee counterparts into retreat through the town of Gettysburg. But Union troops still held the high ground south of town, on Cemetery Ridge, which would prove crucial in the days to come.

On July 2, Lee sought to press his advantage, launching massive assaults on both sides of the Union line. The hesitance of his subordinate generals allowed more Union reinforcements to arrive, strengthening their defensive positions and enabling them to stall the rebel onslaught. With over 20,000 casualties, the second day at Gettysburg would stand as one of the war’s bloodiest days of fighting.