On the final day of the Battle of Gettysburg occurred the most important event in the unification of the United States. While the Confederacy seemed on the pinnacle of success on July 2nd, only 24 hours later the South was headed to inexorable defeat in absolute ruin. The battle was a more devastating loss for the South than anyone at the time fathomed. Despite the heavy losses on both sides, the tide had turned for the Union as they maintained the upper hand for the remaining two years of the war. General Robert E. Lee's absolute confidence in his Army of Northern Virginia led to a miscalculation and a crushing loss. The culminating event of the fateful battle was Pickett's Charge, with which Lee had intended to end the war. He knew of the increasing pressure on the Union to end the bloodshed and reach a negotiated settlement, and a big victory on Northern turf might do it. The idea of defeat never crossed Lee's mind. Pickett's Charge was Lee's attempt to weaken the Union Army and the Union resolve with a fatal political blow, but instead his miscalculation and the new-found inspiration of the Union Army led to a devastating defeat for the Confederacy and Lee's physical and psychological retreat.
The Civil War was caused by a myriad of conflicting pressures, principles and prejudices. Slavery was at the root of the problems; its existence had gradually come to influence all aspects of American life. The little skirmishes that directly preceded the start of the war were far less important than the inability of the two sides to agree as one nation on the issue of slavery. The change of views and lifestyle from Virginia to Pennsylvania was like going to the other side of the world . This fundamental disagreement made an eventual war seem inevitable; a solution had to be reached and neither side was willing to give way.
Going into the war, each side had several distinctive and essential advantages.