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The Battle of Gettysburg
The Turning Point of the War
The Plan
– Lee (C.S.A.) attempts another invasion of the
North
– Lee hopes to capture another northern city
which could convince the North to seek peace
– Lee desperately needs supplies; stops at the
town of Gettysburg, PA
The Union- North
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General George Meade
newly appointed
90,000 troops
The ConfederacyThe South
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General Robert E. Lee
75,000 troops
General Pickett
General Longstreet
Gettysburg Map
Lee’s pLan
1. Weaken the
flanks (sides)Day 1 and 2
 2. Attack the
center of the
Union line on
Day 3!
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The Troops
The
C.S.A.wants to
occupy
the high
ground
Pickett’s
Charge
July 3rd
Union: Occupies the
High Ground
“Cemetery Ridge”
July 2
pickett’s chargeattack the center
Pickett's Charge
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On the 3rd day of battle, Lee orders an all-out attack
on the center of the Union line.
George Pickett leads 15,000 Confederate soldiers in
a charge across the low ground separating the two
forces
“High Tide of the Confederacy”
– Northern-most point reached by Confederate army
– Closest and last chance for Confederacy to win the War
“generaL Lee, i have no division.”
…….words spoken by General Pickett after the Battle of Gettysburg
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As the division marched towards the ridge,
half were killed by cannon fire, or bullets from
the dug-in Union troops
Of the men that reached the ridge, most were
killed or captured
Union victory
The Aftermath
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Casualties
– Union = 23,000
– Confederacy = 28,000
Lincoln with Civil War Soldiers
Original Manuscript
Abraham
Lincoln’s
handwriting
Gettysburg Address
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"Fourscore and seven years ago
our fathers brought forth on this
continent a new nation, conceived
in liberty and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are
created equal.
4 x 20 + 7 years ago our founding
fathers brought to North America a
new nation- The United States of
America- born out of freedom and
dedicated to the idea that ALL men
(all races) are created equal.
Gettysburg Address (cont.)
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Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing
whether that nation or any nation so conceived
and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on
a great battlefield of that war.
Now we are involved in a huge war- testing if the
U.S. (born out of freedom) can exist. Here we are
at Gettysburg- a battlefield of that war.
Gettysburg Address (cont.)
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We have come to dedicate a portion
of that field as a final resting-place
for those who here gave their lives
that that nation might live. It is
altogether fitting and proper that we
should do this.
We are here to dedicate a part of that
field as a burial place- for those
people who died here so that our
nation could exist and endure. It is
the right thing to do.
Actual Photograph of Lincoln just before
giving the speech at Gettysburg
Gettysburg Address (cont.)
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But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot
consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave
men, living and dead who struggled here have
consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.
But we really can’t dedicate or make this ground sacred.
The brave men who fought here - both killed and
wounded, have already made it sacred far more than we
can.
Gettysburg Address (cont.)
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The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it
can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be
dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here
have thus far so nobly advanced.
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The rest of the world will not remember what we say here on
this day, but the world will never forget what those people who
died here did. We who are living should devote ourselves to the
unfinished work (securing freedom for all people, carrying out
the hopes and dreams of the founding fathers, proving that a
democracy can work) which those that we are remembering
today have already started.
Cemetery Gate
at Gettysburg
Gettysburg Address (cont.)
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It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task
remaining before us--that from these honored dead we
take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave
the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly
resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that
this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom,
and that government of the people, by the people, for the
people shall not perish from the earth."
Those that died at Gettysburg did not die in vainbut died to advance the cause which is that this
nation guided by God, shall have a second birth of
freedom- one in which ALL men will be free-- and
that democracy will not disappear from this Earth.