Battle of Gettysburg

This was before the start of what some believe as “the first real civil war.” (Catton 108). The

battle, demonstrating as it did the effectiveness of the Confederate army, changed the status of the

conflict from a rebellion to a civil war. Six hundred thousand young Americans, alive when 1860

ended, would all of the explosion in the next four years. The Confederates had won the war, but

their efforts, Jackson complained, left them “more disorganized by victory than [the Union army

One major battle that led to Gettysburg and the Confederate defeat was the battle of Bull

Run. The battle took place on July 21, 1961, and was to be the day “bearing the fate of the

newborn confederacy.” (Beauregard). The battle of Bull Run was fought in Virginia, near the

Manassas, Virginia railway junction, after which the battle is called (or First Bull Run, named after

the flowing stream on the battlefield). According to Michael Golay, author of To Gettsburg and

Beyond, Lieutenant Haskell, a Union aide, remarked that:

At the early battles we thought that w

. . .
Lee relyed on Stuart to be the eyes of the army. Stuart, unlike the others, disregarded Lee’s

orders and instead was making a name for himself and didn’t enter the battle of Gettysburg until

the last stage. The projectiles shriek long and sharp. Besides the great ceaseless roar of the guns,

which was but the background for the others, a million various minor sounds

engaged the ear. (88)

The victory at Bull Run left the Confederate command feeling that the next move was

pretty much up to the Yankees of the Union. The high morale of Lee’s army was due to his attiture towards

the men in the ranks “more than to any other single cause,” (Trulock 71). Both were engineers, and both deeply religious men. The Confederates seemed very unprepared and the

Union was anxious to make the next move. If the

commander’s plan had been done at the same time, and both been successful in their

intentions, the two armies would have simply circled around each other and ended up in

each others rear, able to march unopposed to Washington or Richmond, but the attack

failed. He was suppose to be on the right

flank watching the army enter Pennsylvania.

Common topics in this essay:
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Approximate Word count = 836
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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