Download A Turning Point in the Civil War

The Battle of Vicksburg, The Battle of Gettysburg, and the
Gettysburg Address
By: Michael Harper, Jacob Beiser and Alex Pietraszek
Vicksburg
•The Confederacy’s last fort on the
Mississippi River
•If the Union took Vicksburg, they
would split the Confederacy in half
• The Confederacy launched the
attack on Gettysburg, in part to draw
the Union away from Vicksburg
•The Union won the battle with an
army over two times the size of the
Confederate army
The Importance of Vicksburgs Location
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Vicksburg is in Mississippi midway down the Mississippi river
Vicksburg was the last Confederate fort on the Mississippi river
It was built on a 200 foot bluff over the river and well fortified
Vicksburg held the two parts of the Confederacy together
It blocked the lower Mississippi river so the Union could not
access trade routes from the Midwest down to the sea
• When the Union won the battle of Vicksburg they split the
Confederacy in half and reopened the Mississippi trade route
The Battle of Gettysburg
• Gettysburg was the Confederacy's last chance
to win the war
• General Lee commanded the attacking
Confederate army and General Meade led the
defending Union army
•After Gettysburg the Confederacy never again threatened the
North and they lost all hope of foreign alliances
•Gettysburg was the biggest battle of the war and a crushing defeat
for the Confederacy
Battle Tactics Map of Gettysburg
Importance of Gettysburg Battle Tactics
•Lee had 72,000 troops to Meade’s 94,000 troops, but
came close to winning the battle early in the fighting
•Lee attempted to win the battle before the full Union army
assembled, but to no avail due to lack of commitment
from his generals
•Lee lost the battle after a last failed charge at the Union
center
•Meade beat Lee with a strong defence of his center, but
didn’t pursue
Generals Meade and Lee - Reputations and
Aftermath
• Robert E. Lee (Confederate) and George G. Meade (Union) were the
commanding Generals at the Battle of Gettysburg.
• Early in the war General Lee was first criticized for lack of aggression.
• General Lee’s reputation improved dramatically after the Peninsula
Campaign. He was thought to be invincible.
•After Gettysburg, General Lee’s reputation was tarnished; he was still
thought to be brilliant, but not invincible
•Lee remained in command
•Meade’s reputation increased after winning the battle of Gettysburg, but he
was chided for not finishing Lee and winning the war
• Meade was put under Grant’s command
The Gettysburg Address Analysis
Sentence analysis of what the Gettysburg
Address was trying to Convey
One of the only pictures of Lincoln when he was Speaking
Four score 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.
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“Four score and seven years ago” is referring to 1776
(Declaration of Independence)
Referring in the second paragraph opening line to the
Declaration of Independence, interpreting its meaning to refer
to: “all men” including black slaves.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether
that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated
can long endure.
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Lincoln is telling his audience that the values their
country was founded on were being violated.
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Lincoln extends the meaning of the actual war by
questioning whether any nation can survive
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.
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Lincoln recognizing the dead that have
fought for the war.
He tries to be very compelling by comparing
life vs. death of a nation and people.
Repetition of Consonants: Battlefield; final;
field; for; fitting.
But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot
consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.
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Another very persuasive use of repetition in
speech.
Says the same thing using different words
three times
Notice the rhythm these words have while
speaking
The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have
consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.
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Made up of respect for the soldiers
The world will little note nor long remember what we say
here, but it can never forget what they did here.
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He is talking about the larger sense; the
world not just the United States
Part 1
It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which
they who fought there have thus far so nobly advanced. 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.
Part 2
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Full of inspirational words such as: “dedicated” ,
“Nobly” , “Great” , “Honored” , “devotion” “God” and
others.
Tells them what to dedicate themselves to now.
Lincoln wanted to renew the commitment to winning
the war by turning it into a noble cause
Bibliography
Kennedy, Frances H. The Civil War Battlefield Guide. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. Print.
Kraus, Michael. The United States to 1865. Toronto: U of Michigan, 1959. Print.
McPherson, James. Battle Cry of Freedom. New York: Oxford university, 1988. Print.
Aaron R., ed. Civil War Battles and Leaders. London: DK, 2004. Print.
Nardo, Don. Bull Run to Gettysburg. Mankato: Compass points, 2011. Print.
Zimmer, John. "The Gettysburg Address: An Analysis | Manner of Speaking." Manner of Speaking. John
Zimmer, 30 Apr. 2014. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
"The Words that Remade America." The Words That Remade America. N.p., 30 Apr. 2014. Web. 30 Apr.
2014.