.
One of the more significant battles of the American Civil War was the Battle of Gettysburg. The battle extended over three hot days in the month of July in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. General Robert E. Lee, Commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, marched into Pennsylvania, but he was met by General George E. Meade and the Union Army. On July 1, 1863, the first day of battle, the Confederates were forced to call for reinforcements. At the end of the day, thirty thousand Confederates ultimately defeated twenty thousand Yankees, who were forced to fall back to Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill. .
On the second day of battle, the Union arranged ninety thousand troops around the hills and ridges south of Gettysburg. The Confederates answered the Union with seventy thousand of their own men. Although the Confederates made substantial improvement, the Union held on and withstood day two. On the third and final day of battle, fighting resumed on Culp's Hill. However, the main fighting took place on Cemetery Ridge where twelve thousand Confederate troops attacked the heart of the Union infantry. The Union responded courageously and inflicted great losses to the South. Lee led his troops to retreat toward Williamsport, Pennsylvania on the Potomac River. A grand total of fifty-one thousand soldiers were killed, wounded, captured or .
missing during the Battle of Gettysburg. .
The Union suffered twenty-three thousand, and the Confederacy suffered twenty-eight thousand. Despite losing a large number of troops, the Union were considered the victors of this battle. Four months after the battle, President Lincoln used the dedication ceremony for Gettysburg's Soldiers National Cemetery to honor dead Union soldiers. Lincoln then went on to deliver one of the most famous speeches in American history. The bloody Battle of Gettysburg and the continuing disputes about slavery forced Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United States, to deliver the Gettysburg Address.
