The Impact of the Battle of Gettysburg on the Future of the United States

There were many battles in the Civil War, but none were probably as important or had the same impact on the future of America as the battle of Gettysburg. It was fought from July 1st to the 3rd of 1863. This battle was started after general Robert E. Lee of the confederacy won the battle of Chancellorsville and decide to continue and attack north because of his great victory at Chancellorsville. General Lee’s main goal of this attack was to threaten northern cities and occupy cities like the Union.

His second goal was to force the citizens of the north to not want to continue the war and talk peace treaties with the confederacy. His third goal of this battle is to win a major battle on the northern side and force the union to want to talk peace treaties. His fourth goal of this battle was and gain recognition and support from both Britain and France, and have them help the Confederates out.

The battle was not intended to be at Gettysburg, but because of the previous battle, it caused the Union to retreat to Gettysburg. There were two main attacks launched by the confederate, but none especially successful.

The first main attack was launched by the Confederates, early in the morning in an attempt to take over Culp’s Hill to Cemetery Ridge but was dealt with strong resistance, being able to only capture Devil’s Den. This attack caused a relatively small dent to the unions, and at the cost of significant lives on both sides.

Get quality help now

RhizMan

Verified

Proficient in: Battle Of Gettysburg

4.9 (247)

“ Rhizman is absolutely amazing at what he does . I highly recommend him if you need an assignment done ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

In the second main attack, the goal was to capture Cemetery Ridge. Because Lee thought they were on the brink of victory from what they have captured from the day before, he decided to flank the main attack and launch an attack called the Pickett’s Charge. Pickett’s Charge was a battle where Lee ordered roughly 15,000 of his troops to charge about 34 of a mile of open field on the Union troops that were already dug in. This attack led to numerous casualties especially on the Confederate side. After this battle, the Confederates retreated, and leaving roughly 28,000 dead troops, about 1/3 of the confederates entire army. Also, they lost a great deal of their military weapons that they will no longer be able to launch an invasion of that size for the rest of the war. On the other hand, for the Union, while the casualties for the Union wasn’t as great at 23,000, it was still a significant loss of lives.

After this victory, Lincoln did a famous speech named the Gettysburg Address. In this speech, he remarked about the bravery of the fallen soldiers of the fallen soldiers that died to provide everyone with liberty, freedom and equality as stated in the Declaration of Independence. He also stated the importance of unity of the country as a whole. While doing so, he pointed out that the Declaration of Independence is the true representation of American people, not the Constitution, due to the condemning of slavery in the Constitution. The effects after this war the effects of this battle were significant for the Confederates. This battle will be the last major attack launched by the Confederates due to their large number of casualties taken and the weapons lost. The Confederates also lost most of their momentum that they had going into this battle. This war also affected the way the borders were drawn because if the union lost this war, Lincoln was probably going to have peace treaty talks with Jefferson Davis due to the low moral and losses endured by the north from previous battles.