GettysburgAn Introduction

Causes

• Lee sought to invade the

Union, taking pressure off of

the Confederacy as a whole,

and potentially diverting

Union forces away from the

besieged Confederate

stronghold at Vicksburg

Losses at Gettysburg

• Fought over the course of three days

• Each single day of fighting represents some of

the bloodiest battles in American history

• On the second day alone, the Union and

Confederate armies, under Generals Meade

and Lee respectively, took over 50,000

combined casualties

Aftermath

At the dedication of the cemetery,

Abraham Lincoln gave his famous

“Gettysburg Address,” now

considered one of the finest examples

of oration in the English language. In

it, he rededicated himself to the war,

and redefined its purpose, from a

question of states’ rights, to one of

human rights.