This album has 2064 photos in total.
Album was created 8/5/09 9:14 PM.
The Battle of Gettysburg, fought on July 1–3, 1863, was the battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War and is often consideredas the war's turning point. Fought in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the Battle of Gettysburg saw 165,000 Union and Confederate soldiers clash in a three day battle that resulted in more than 51,000 casualties. On the third day of the battle, Confederate soldiers in an attack called Pickett's Charge reached the copse of trees near The Angle (a corner in a low stone wall) on Cemetery Ridge; this represented the farthest point north that Robert E. Lee's forces reached during the Civil War. For this reason the copse of trees is often referred to as the High Water Mark of the Confederacy.
Pickett's Charge was a disaster for the Confederate forces and ended Robert E. Lee's plan to move his forces north to Harrisburg Pennsylvania and on to Washington DC. While the Civil War continued on for two more years, the Battle of Gettysburg changed the dynamics of the war and General Lee was never truly on the offensive again.
The Lutheran Theological Seminary played an important role, particularly on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg. From the cupola on top of the Lutheran Theological Seminary, General Buford watched over the battle on McPherson's Ridge on July 1 as he waited for reinforcements from General John Reynolds. From this vantage point, Buford probably could have watched as General Reynolds was killed by a sharpshooter's bullet on McPherson Ridge. By the end of that day, General Robert E. Lee had set up his headquarters at a farm house within a few hundred yards of the Lutheran Theological Seminary.
During and after the Battle of Gettysburg, the Lutheran Theological Seminary was used as a field hospital.
