An Overview of the American Civil War Through Primary Sources by Carin T. Ford

Author:Carin T. Ford [Ford, Carin T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4645-1095-3
Publisher: Enslow Publishers, Inc.
Published: 2013-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

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Hooker, who was nicknamed “Fighting Joe,” said he would destroy the Confederate army. But Hooker lost a battle at Chancellorsville, Virginia, in May 1863. The Union had twice as many men as the Confederates, yet the leadership of Confederate generals James E. B. “Jeb” Stuart and “Stonewall” Jackson forced the Union soldiers to retreat.

By the summer of 1863, Lee was ready to invade the North. His army had won so many battles in the past two years that Lee believed he could not be beaten. He also knew that most Northerners had grown tired of the war. If he could win a major victory on Union soil, maybe the North would call an end to the war.

Lee marched his 75,000 men up to central Pennsylvania in late June. He bumped into Union cavalry—soldiers on horseback—near the town of Gettysburg. Fighting broke out on July 1, 1863.

The fighting was fierce for two days. Thousands of soldiers were killed or wounded. Yet under the command of General George Meade, the Union army held its position. Meade was the fifth commander of the Union army in less than a year. Lincoln had just put him in charge, replacing Hooker.

On July 3, Lee made one last attempt to win the battle. He ordered 15,000 Confederate soldiers to march across an open field, straight at the center of the Union line. The Union troops waited behind a low wall until the Confederates came within range. Then they shot down row after row of soldiers.

A Massachusetts soldier recalled, “Wounded men who could no longer stand, struggled, fought, shouted and killed—hatless, coatless, drowned in sweat … red with blood.”1

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