Why was Gettysburg important? Gettysburg was important because it was the symbolic turning point in the American Civil War and not just because of Lincoln’s famous speech.
The majority of people probably know about Gettysburg because of the famous speech Abraham Lincoln gave there. He was speaking four months after the battle had been won at a dedication ceremony for a Soldiers’ National Cemetery. His address has become one of the most famous speeches in the English language and is remarkable in that it was only 271 words long. His address was apparently not that well received on the day and was criticized heavily by a lot of newspapers (mostly Democrat ones). However, after Lincoln was assassinated, and over the following decades, especially after the end of World War 1, it grew in popularity and became one of the most famous English speeches. Here is the full text:
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
However, we are not looking at the speech today, but at the Battle of Gettysburg that preceded the speech. The Battle of Gettysburg was fought from July 1st to July 3rd, 1863. It was fought just outside the small town of Gettysburg, about 330 km southwest of New York City and about 130 km west of Washington DC. The Civil War had been going on for a little over two years by this point and the Union Army had not won many land battles. They were technologically superior, had suppressed the Confederate Navy, blockaded many of their ports, and won several battles in the west, but they had not been able to win any land battles in the east. The Confederate army had always managed to come out victorious and were slowly pushing their way towards Washington. The Confederates were closing in on the two largest and most important Union cities, but they didn’t really have any hope of being able to take them. Washington DC, for example, was very heavily fortified and defended. The Confederates didn’t have enough soldiers and weapons to be able to take the city, but that was probably not their goal.
The Confederate Army never really had any chance of winning the Civil War. The Union had an advantage of numbers, technology, and resources. It would only be a matter of time before they started to overcome the Confederate Army. General Lee even said this towards the end of the Civil War. They did have a strategy though. With every defeat, and with every Union soldier’s death, the people in the Union got a little more fed up with the war. The Confederates were banking on being able to remove so much of Lincoln’s support for the war that he would have no choice but to sue for peace, and on terms that were very favorable to the Confederates. And this is why Gettysburg is so important. If the Confederates won, it could be the final straw that strips Lincoln of his support and forces him to sue for peace.
The Confederate Army, led by Robert E. Lee, and the Union Army, led by George G. Meade, came together on either side of the town of Gettysburg. Lee wanted to capture it to continue his march towards Washington. There were 71,699 Confederate soldiers and 93,921 Union soldiers. The battle started in the early hours of July 1st when Confederate troops entered Gettysburg to seize supplies and were fired upon by Union troops. The battle went on over the next two days and it looked like the Confederates were going to win again, which they may have if they hadn’t made a few miscalculations. The greatest of these was a charge led by Brigadier General George E. Pickett on the orders of Lee. Lee thought the Union troops were sufficiently weakened for the charge to end the battle, but they weren’t. Over 50% of the troops in the charge were wounded, killed, or captured and the Confederates could not regroup. They had lost 28,063 soldiers to the Union’s 23,049. Lee just didn’t have enough forces left to continue the battle and he had to retreat.
The retreat of the Confederates started in Gettysburg but they had to go all the way back to Confederate territory. They had more forces and they could carry on fighting, but they would never again come close to forcing Lincoln’s hand. The victory at Gettysburg was a propaganda win for Lincoln and support for the Union forces and the Union’s will to fight strengthened. This was followed by another victory at the town of Vicksburg the next day and Lincoln was secure. On the opposite side, the confidence of the Confederates was badly shaken. Gettysburg was the turning point in the war because it was almost inevitable from here that the Union forces would prevail. They may still have prevailed if they had lost Gettysburg, but chances are high that they would have sued for peace. And this is what I learned today.
Sources
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/gettysburg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gettysburg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Address
Photo by Jay Brand: https://www.pexels.com/photo/gettysburg-war-memorial-with-scenic-landscape-33281120/