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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 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.
Today The Angle is surrounded with memorials for various regiments and commanders. The best known is probably the marker for General Armistead, who courageously led his soldiers through the brutal fire from Union soldiers by putting his hat on his sword and yelling "Who is with me?" as he charged forward. He is the only Confederate general to cross the stone wall of the Angle, and he was mortally wounded just after he did so. The wall itself is only a couple feet tall. It's hard to imagine that this inconsequential pile of stones could have been the focal point for the seminal moment of the Battle of Gettysburg and the entire Civil War.
