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The Bloodiest Battle that was ever Fought on American Soil
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After Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia defeated the Union Army of the Potomac under General Joseph Hooker at chancellersville in May 1863, the victorious Confederates decided to invade the North for a second time in two years. This time, they would head for Pennsylvania.eHistory Archive
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Brigadier General John Burford
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John Buford, Jr. was born into a prominent family on March 4, 1826 in Woodford County, Kentucky, but moved with his family to Rock Island, Illinois at a young age. After attending Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois for one year, Buford entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York and graduated in the middle of his class in 1848. Civil War Trust |
Major General John F. Reynolds
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Major General John Fulton Reynolds was the highest ranking officer killed at the Battle of Gettysburg and one of the most senior in the Civil War. His decision to commit his infantry west of Gettysburg set the course of the fighting, but his death early in the battle was a serious blow to the Union Army. Stone Sentinels |
Major General General Oliver O. Howard
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Known as “the Christian General,” Oliver Otis Howard is a unique figure in Civil War history. Despite lackluster performances by troops under his command, Howard’s reputation as an efficient and personally courageous officer would lead to command of an army by the war’s end. Civil War Trust |
Major General Abner Doubleday
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Doubleday was born in Ballston Spa, New York, in a small house on the corner of Washington and Fenwick streets. The family all slept in the attic loft of the one-room house. His paternal grandfather, also named Abner, had fought in the American Revolutionary War. His maternal grandfather joined the army at 14 and was a mounted messenger for George Washington. His father, Ulysses F. Doubleday, fought in the War of 1812, published newspapers and books, and represented Auburn, New York for four years in the United States Congress. Wikipedia |
July 1: The start of the Battle
The first Confederate troops to enter the vicinity of Gettysburg were BG James Archer's and BG Joseph Davis' (the nephew of Confederate President Jefferson Davis) Brigades of MG Heth's Division (General A.P. Hill's Corps). At approximately 8 AM, Heth reached the crest of Herr Ridge and surveyed the approach to Gettysburg. Observing minimal resistance, Heth ordered his two Brigades (Archer and Davis) to march southeast along Chambersburg Pike and occupy Gettysburg. Heth decided to deploy Archer to the south and Davis to the north of the pike. Military History |
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The 1st Day
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The largest military conflict in North American history begins this day when Union and Confederate forces collide at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The epic battle lasted three days and resulted in a retreat to Virginia by Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia Legacy America
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Gettysburg: The First Day
The Iron Brigade
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By 10:00 on the morning of July 1, 1863, the situation near McPherson’s Ridge, outside the town of Gettysburg, was becoming increasingly desperate for the Army of the Potomac. Tennessee and Alabama soldiers from James Archer’s Brigade had already crossed over the open field in front of Herr Ridge, splashed across the tangled stream bottom at Willoughby’s Run, and were now pressing up through the Herbst (or McPherson’s) Woods. The Union cavalry screen that had been gallantly holding the ground west of Gettysburg was simply no match for the huge Confederate force converging upon the strategic town. Civil War Trust |
Books
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Hood's Texas Brigade in the Civil War by Edward B. WilliamsISBN: 9780786468607
Publication Date: 2012-07-26
Of the many infantry brigades in Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, John Bell Hood's Texas Brigade earned the reputation as perhaps the premier unit. From 1862 until Lee's surrender at Appomattox, the brigade fought in most of the major campaigns in the Eastern Theater and several more in the Western, including the Seven Days, Second Manassas (Second Bull Run), Sharpsburg (Antietam), Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Knoxville, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor, the siege of Richmond and Petersburg, and Appomattox.Distinguished for its fierce tenacity and fighting ability, the brigade suffered some of the war's highest casualties. This volume chronicles Hood's Texas Brigade from its formation through postwar commemorations, providing a soldier's-eye view of the daring and bravery of this remarkable unit.
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Battle of Gettysburg by Edward J. StackpoleISBN: 0811726762
Publication Date: 1998-05-01
A fully revised and updated version of the 1960 classic. A must for Civil War buffs, amateur and professional alike.
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The Civil War by Louis P. MasurISBN: 9780199740482
Publication Date: 2011-02-10
One hundred and fifty years after the first shots were fired on Fort Sumter, the Civil War still captures the American imagination, and its reverberations can still be felt throughout America's social and political landscape. Louis P. Masur'sThe Civil War: A Concise Historyoffers a masterful and eminently readable overview of the war's multiple causes and catastrophic effects. Masur begins by examining the complex origins of the war, focusing on the pulsating tensions over states rights and slavery. The book then proceeds to cover, year by year, the major political, social, and military events, highlighting two important themes: how the war shifted from a limited conflict to restore the Union to an all-out war that would fundamentally transform Southern society, and the process by which the war ultimately became a battle to abolish slavery. Masur explains how the war turned what had been a loose collection of fiercely independent states into a nation, remaking its political, cultural, and social institutions. But he also focuses on the soldiers themselves, both Union and Confederate, whose stories constitute nothing less than America's Iliad. In the final chapter Masur considers the aftermath of the South's surrender at Appomattox and the clash over the policies of reconstruction that continued to divide President and Congress, conservatives and radicals, Southerners and Northerners for years to come. In 1873, Mark Twain and Charles Dudley wrote that the war had "wrought so profoundly upon the entire national character that the influence cannot be measured short of two or three generations." From the vantage of the war's sesquicentennial, this concise history of the entire Civil War era offers an invaluable introduction to the dramatic events whose effects are still felt today.
Lieutenant General A.P. Hill
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Ambrose Powell Hill began his military career after graduating 15th out of 38 from the United States Military Academy in 1847. After graduation he served with an artillery unit during the Mexican-American War as well as the Seminole War. Civil War Trust |
General Henry Heth
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Henry Heth was born in Black Heath, Virginia, in 1825, to a family known for military service. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1847 at the bottom of his class, and spent most of his pre-war years serving in posts on the western frontier. Civil War Trust |
General William Dorsey Pender
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Dorsey Pender at twenty-nine was the youngest and the fastest-rising major general in the Army of Northern Virginia at Gettysburg. He had just been placed at the head of "Powell" Hill's old Light Division, one of the two best divisions in the army. Along with Maj. Gen. John B. Hood, who commanded the only division which could match the Light Division, Pender was the man for whom Lee and others predicted a great future. Civil War General |
General Richard "Fighting Dick" Anderson
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Richard "Fighting Dick" Heron Anderson was born on October 7, 1821 at "Hillcrest" in Sumter County, South Carolina. He graduated from the United States Military Academy as a member of the class of 1842. His class produced an astounding 22 Civil War generals from its 37 living graduates at the outbreak of hostilities. Anderson |
Lieutenant General Jubal Early
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Jubal Anderson Early, graduated 18th in a class of 50 from the United States Military Academy in 1837. He spent his early military career fighting Seminole American Indians in the Florida region, and resigned soon thereafter. Early, a successful lawyer, served in the Virginia House of Delegates before being interrupted by the Mexican War where he served as a major of Virginia volunteers. Civil War Trust |