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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 Peach Orchard played an important role in the fighting on July 2, the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Union General Sickles ignored his orders to stay in the Federal force's line, instead moving his troops away from Devil's Den and out to the Peach Orchard. Sickles liked the slight elevation provided by the Peach Orchard; unfortunately, he failed to recognize that his movement would leave Little Round Top undefended and would subject his own soldiers to artillery fire from two sides.
The battle at the Peach Orchard started with artillery exchanges. The Confederate forces swept through the area in an assault of almost 3,000 soldiers from Seminary Ridge. The Confederates passed through the Peach Orchard and on to the Wheatfield, where they continued their devastation of the disorganized Union forces.
