The Battle of Gettysburg was Lee's second invasion of the north, this time as far as south central Pennsylvania. The battle happened over the first three days of July, 1863. Historians now agree that Gettysburg was not the turning point of the war but it was important because it was a serious defeat for the Confederacy and one of the few mistakes that Robert E. Lee made in the war.
Lee's first mistake was probably that he fought there at all. Conferderate General Longstreet told Lee he thought that that was a poor choice for a battle. The second mistake was that he let the Army of the Potomac led by General Meade choose the ground for mthe battle. Naturally, Union forces positioned themselves on the hills and ridges. His last and greatest mistake was Pickett's Charge.
This was the site of Pickett's Charge on July 3, 1863. Union regiments were behind the rocks in the foreground. Confedrate General Pickett was ordered to begin his advance from the tree line in the distance, Seminary Ridge. Lee thought there was a weak spot in the Union line here but Meade had for once out-smarted Lee and had reinforced the his line. Pickett's men marched into withering cannon and musket fire and his regiments were destroyed. It was one of the most senseless actions in the entire war.
The Devil's Den on Little Roundtop. This the far south end of the nearly four mile long Union front.
The monument to the First Minnesota Volunteer Regiment. At a critical moment on July 2, 1863, they were ordered to rush to fill a gap in the line. They suffered almost 80% casualities but gave their commanders precious time to bring in reinforcements. I remeber seeing aphoto of this statue in my 6th grade history. At the end of the third day of Gettyburg, killed, wounded and missing for the Union and Confederacy totaled 52,000.
It is a place to absorb what our country had to fight for. "often lost", I think, is how life goes every moment of history. And. "to the victor, comes history written the way they want it remembered.
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