Battles Of Gettysburg Essay Research Paper The — страница 2

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the South. Lincoln and the Northerners however had no intention of letting the South split apart a country that so many had worked so hard to build. A prominent American military figure, Winfield Scott, developed a long-term plan that he believed would help the Northerners achieve victory. His plan, subsequently named the “Anaconda Plan” would apply pressure, through military actions, to different parts of the South and “constrict” them into surrendering (Military). A combined force of naval and army units would sweep down the Mississippi River, dividing the Confederacy’s eastern and western states. At the same time, the Union Navy would institute a blockade to deny the Confederacy the badly needed manufactured goods from Europe. If the South continued to fight, even

after the loss of the Mississippi and the closing of its ports; Scott envisioned a major invasion into the heart of the Confederacy (Military). He estimated that it would take two to three years and 300,000 men to carry out this strategy. Aside from underestimating, by about half, the length of time and the number of men it would take to bring success, Scott had sketched the broad strategy the North would implement to defeat the South over the next four years (Military). The U.S. Navy applied increasing pressure along the Confederate coasts, Northern forces took control of the Mississippi River by the Middle of 1863, and large armies marched into Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, and the Carolinas (Military). By spring of 1863, the war had waged for two years and a turning point in

the fight for succession or unity was about to occur. The Battle of Gettysburg was a decisive engagement in that it arrested the Confederates’ second and last major invasion of the North, destroyed their offensive strategy, and pushed them into a war that they could not win with their lack of manufacturing capacities. The Army of the Potomac, under the Union general George Gordon Meade (Golay 150), numbered about 85,000; the Confederate army, under General Robert E. Lee, numbered about 75,000(Essay). After the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 2 to 4, an important victory for the Confederates, Lee divided his army into three corps (Golay 155), commanded by three lieutenant generals: James Longstreet, Richard Stoddert Ewell, and Ambrose Powell Hill(Lee 289). Lee then formulated

a plan for invading Pennsylvania, hoping to avert another federal offensive in Virginia and planning to fight if he could get the federal army into the right position(Military). In pursuit of this plan, Lee crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains, up the Shenandoah Valley, and, through Maryland, entered Pennsylvania. After learning federal troops were north of the Potomac(Essay), Lee decided to concentrate his whole army at Gettysburg(Military). On June 30, Confederate troops from General Hill’s corps, on their way to Gettysburg, discovered federal troops that Meade had moved down to intercept the Confederate army. The battle began on July 1 outside of Gettysburg with a fight between Hill’s advance brigades and the federal cavalry division commanded by Major General John Buford.

Hill encountered tough resistance (Essay), and the fighting was inconclusive until Ewell arrived from the north in the afternoon. The Confederates pushed against General Oliver Howard’s corps and forced the federal troops to give up their forward positions to Culp’s Hill and Cemetery Ridge, southeast of Gettysburg. The fighting had been heavy on both sides, but the Union troops suffered more losses. More than 4000 men were taken prisoner by the Confederates (Military), and Federal General John Reynolds was killed in battle. The Northerners did manage to capture Confederate General Archer. He was the first Confederate officer to be taken prisoner after Lee assumed command of the Confederate army(Military). The corps, led by Ewell, did not move in to attack the Union troops but

waited for General Longstreet to bring in his corps to reinforce the outnumbered Confederate troops. The next day, July 2, Meade formed his forces in the shape of a horseshoe, moving westward from Culp’s Hill and southward along Cemetery Ridge to the hills of Little Round Top and Round Top. The Confederates, on the other hand, were deployed in a long, thin, concave line, with Longstreet and Ewell on the flanks and Hill in the center(Lee 300). Lee, against the advice of Longstreet and despite the fact that he had no cavalry, resolved to attack the federal positions(Elson 31). Longstreet was unable to advance until late afternoon, allowing the federal troops to make preparations for the expected assault. General Abner Doubleday of the federal army strengthened his hold on