Civil War Journal
View across the wheatfields of Cemetery Ridge
This department provides an overview of the Gettysburg battle and battlefield, placing events here in context with the American Civil War.
Battle of Gettysburg: A primer
By Colonel Tom Vossler (U.S. Army Infantry, Retired)
It was the third summer of the war. Except for several fathers, sons and brothers having enlisted in the Union Army and engaged in battles in far-off Virginia, the war had been on the periphery of the thoughts of the 2,400 citizens in the small town of Gettysburg.
However, by mid-June 1863, rumors of closer conflict circulated among the populace of the small agricultural and transportation community located but a few miles north of the Mason-Dixon line.
By the third week of June, the rumors became more factual as Confederate forces crossed the Potomac River into neighboring Maryland. Was this, perhaps, a repeat of the Confederate Army’s incursion into Maryland the previous fall which culminated in its repulse at the Battle of Antietam? Or was this something more?
By the fourth week of June, the situation had become more sharply defined. Two-thirds of a 60,000-man Confederate Army had taken camp in the area of Chambersburg, a scant 20 miles to the west of Gettysburg, just beyond South Mountain. The remaining one-third had marched northward along the Cumberland Valley and was in Carlisle area and the state capital at Harrisburg.
With the rebel army so close to Gettysburg, the citizens of the town must decide what should be done. These were days of uncertainty. What of the families, their homes and their possessions? What of the merchants and their goods, the banks and their holdings? Was it time
to flee, or should they stay and see the coming conflagration through to its conclusion?
On June 30, the issue was decided. Union cavalry, screening the forward movement of the Union Army in search of the invading Confederates, entered Gettysburg and occupied the ridgelines west and north of town. The following day, July 1, elements of the Confederate Army advanced toward Gettysburg and the Union forces stationed there.
The meeting engagement between two smaller portions of two larger armies on July 1 evolved into a full-scale battle during the next two days, involving 160,000 soldiers and 72,000 horses.
The end result of the battle for the Union was a significant victory, which did much to bolster flagging Northern morale at the mid-point of the war. For the Confederates, the battle was a significant defeat with the loss of irreplaceable manpower. Between the two armies, 7,700 men were killed outright in the battle. More than 30,000 men were wounded, one in seven of whom would succumb to his wounds within three weeks of the battle.
Yet the war would go on for nearly two more years after Gettysburg, a testimony to the fortitude and strongly held convictions of the battles’ surviving participants.
The preserved battlefield today remains hallowed ground from a chapter of American history which did much to shape our national character. The Soldiers’ National Cemetery servesas the final resting place for more than 3,500 participants of the battle.
Today, more than 400 Civil War cannons stand as silent sentinels among the monuments and historical markers which tell the soldiers’ stories. Continued interest in the battle is exemplified by the tens of thousands of visitors who come to Gettysburg each year to bear witness to what happened here.
More Battle of Gettyburg information
Battle of Gettysburg: The First Day
By Colonel Tom Vossler (U.S. Army Infantry, Retired)
The three-day battle at Gettysburg is of considerable and continued interest to the thousands of visitors who come to the battlefield each year to walk the hallowed...
Battle of Gettysburg: The Second Day
By Colonel Tom Vossler (U.S. Army Infantry, Retired)
The second day dawned with the Union forces occupying the key terrain at Cemetery Hill, Culp’s Hill and portions of Cemetery Ridge. The famed fishhook-shaped Union...
Battle of Gettysburg: The Third Day
By Colonel Tom Vossler (U.S. Army Infantry, Retired)
Unlike the second day, the third day at Gettysburg dawned with tremendous noise and commotion as Union troops fought to regain ground lost to attacking Confederates at lower Culp’s Hill...
Battle of Gettysburg: The Aftermath
By Colonel Tom Vossler (U.S. Army Infantry, Retired)
For all practical purposes, the defeat of the July 3 Confederate attack into the center of the Union line at Cemetery Ridge marked the end of the fighting. Although there...
Battle of Gettysburg: Weapons and Tactics
By Tony DeLacy
The Battle of Gettysburg saw the opposing armies using a variety of weapons. Bayonets, swords and revolvers were used, but the primary infantry weapon was the...
In the words of Capt. Patrick DeLacy
By Tony DeLacy
Capt. Patrick DeLacy described the Gettysburg Battle in an interview given to The Scranton Truth on Tuesday afternoon, July 1, 1913. Fifty years earlier, on July 1, 1863, DeLacy was...
War Comes to Gettysburg
By Tony DeLacy
I have often imagined what it must have been like to have lived in Gettysburg during the days leading up to the battle. Those fateful days left lasting...
War Comes to Gettysburg: Civilians Recall First Day
By Tony DeLacy
The first day of the battle began as advance elements of the two armies collided on the ridges north and west of the town. Early that morning, federal cavalry delayed...
War Comes to Gettysburg: Civilians Recall Second Day
By Tony DeLacy
By early evening on July 1, 1863, Federal forces were driven back through Gettysburg to the heights south of the town. The main strength of both armies arrived during...
War Comes to Gettysburg: Civilians Recall Third Day
By Tony DeLacy
The day of July 3, 1863 brought the battle of Gettysburg to a climax. Just before dawn, fighting broke out on the Federal right at Culp’s Hill. Later...
War Comes to Gettysburg: Civilians Recall the Aftermath of the Battle
By Tony DeLacy
The aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg brought devastation, hardship, suffering and compassion to the civilian population. The human wreckage was beyond belief...
The Unite States Sanitary Commission
By Tony DeLacy
The Civil War began with the firing on Fort Sumter in April 1861. During that same month, a dedicated group of 55 women met in New York with the purpose of consolidating all of the...