Location: Adams County, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Campaign: Gettysburg
Principal Union commander(s): Major General George Meade
Principal Confederate commander(s): General Robert E. Lee
Union forces engaged: Army of the Potomac
Confederate forces engaged: Army of Northern Virginia
Number of Union soldiers engaged: Roughly 94,000
Number of Confederate soldiers engaged: Roughly 72,000
Estimated Union casualties: 23,055 (killed, wounded and missing/captured)
Estimated Confederate casualties: 23,231 (killed, wounded and missing/captured)
Result: Union victory
Many historians consider the Battle of Gettysburg to be the pivotal battle of the American Civil War.
The Battle of Gettysburg ended Confederate commander Robert E. Lee’s second and last attempt to invade the North.
3,155 Union soldiers were killed at the Battle of Gettysburg.
4,708 Confederate soldiers were killed at the Battle of Gettysburg.
Confederate commander Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia was forced to retreat to Virginia after the Battle of Gettysburg.
President Lincoln was highly critical of Union commander George Meade for not aggressively pursuing the Army of Northern Virginia as it retreated after the Battle of Gettysburg.
On November 19, 1863, President Lincoln delivered his famous Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery.
Pickett’s Charge against Union troops entrenched on Cemetery Ridge, which took place on the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg, has been referred to as the high-water mark of the Confederacy.
On July 4, 1863, the day that Lee retreated back to Virginia after the Battle of Gettysburg, Confederate General John C. Pemberton surrendered the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi and 30,000 Confederate troops to General Ulysses S. Grant, ending the Siege of Vicksburg.
