After confederate success at the battle of Chancellorsville in may of 1863. The confederate General Robert E lee expressed and inspired the southern soldiers and criticized their citizen supports. There were the presence of two large armies in Virginia savaged the countryside. A victory on the northern ground was said to allow the long wars end and it would at least allow Virginia a respite from the constant foraging of tens of thousands of soldiers and their animals. The reason for this was about a year earlier after forcing major General George B. McClellan’s army for the Virginia peninsula a newly christened army of northern Virginia defeated Major general John Popes union army of Virginia at the battle of second Manassas.
This was the most famous and most important battle of the civil war it occurred over three hot summer days, July 1 to July 3, 1863, around the small market town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It all started out as a skirmish but by end it turned out into about 160,000 Americans. Also before the battle there were major cities such as Philadelphia, Baltimore and even Washington that were under threat of attack from General Robert E. lees confederate army of northern Virginia. After a lot of fierce fighting and heavy casualties on both sides, the federals were pushed back through the town of Gettysburg and regrouped south of the town along the high ground near the cemetery. Around this time lee was ordering his troupes to