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Album was created 8/5/09 9:15 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 considered as 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 soldiers who fought on both sides of the Battle of Gettysburg formed a remarkable bond after the war, holding reunions in Gettysburg as long as 75 years after those fateful days in 1863. The soldiers also started setting up memorials at Gettysburg Battlefield for their regiments, commanders, etc. States and other organizations also added memorials to the battlefield, and markers to show regimental movements and positions were added as well. Today there are more than 1,300 markers and memorials on Gettysburg. Some of the memorials are truly works of art.
