On the third day of fighting the Union pushed back a Confederacy threat against Culp’s Hill after seven hours of shooting the Confederacy regained their strength in position. Later, Lee sent three divisions to the Union center. 15,000 men were sent under Pickett's command, Pickett was able to get through a line but was stopped at the face of thousands of casualties. Lee thought Pickett had made it through the line around three o'clock after a large artillery of Confederate guns. The Union had open fire on Confederate soldiers behind a stone wall while Ohio, New York, and Vermont attacked the two enemy sides. Now that the Confederates were under attack from all sides only half of the confederates survived, and Pickett lost two third of his men. As the few survivors came back Lee and Longstreet went to their defensive line along the shore after the failed attack, …show more content…
Lee tries to stir up a plan, but fails when one of his officers lost his copy of his orders. Rumor has it that Lee wanted to separate his troops in four groups and send them in separate directions. Later that day two Union officers found Lee’s plans that the Confederate soldier had lost and brought it to their General George B. McClellen. However McClellen did not attack right away, so in effect, that gave Lee an advantage to gather his troops. On September 17 1862, the two rivals finally met at Antietam near Sharpsburg, Maryland. Lee thought that if he could bring war to the North the Confederates could have a shot at winning. However Lee didn’t know that McClellen was not going to give up without a fight and that is what he gave. Lee came from a leading family in Virginia. He went to West Point Academy, and graduated second of his class in 1829. Lee was still a U.S. officer stationed in Texas. In 1861, Texas seceded from the United States. That’s when Lee decided to move back to Virginia. Shortly after Lee moved back, Virginia voted to secede from the
First of all the geography forced the Confederates to switch from offense to defense. The Battle of Gettysburg was the first and last battle fought in the North. All the other battles were fought in the South so the Confederate’s people and towns were constantly in danger. Document A illustrates that the General Lee were tired of being on the defense and wanted to be on the offense for a change. Document A states that even though the Confederates tried their hardest they were pushed back onto the defensive and ultimately lost the war (273).
The General thought that slavery was immoral. He was fighting for his home state Virginia. Lee was a loyal person and did not want to fight against his state even though he did not support everything the Confederate army was fighting for. He swore to defend his ground, Lee was talking about the south, so he invades the North and he knew as napoleon knew that a defensive war leads to defeat. General Lee’s second in command was a man called James Longstreet.
Before the war, President Abraham Lincoln tried to sway him to take command of the Union army. However, Lee, like most in his time, was state first, And if Virginia succeeded so would he. Virginia did succeed. In 1861 they
Two days after being offered a spot in the command of the Union Army, Robert E. Lee resigned from the U.S army. The occurrence came two days after his native state of Virginia seceded from the Union, joining the Confederate States of America. HIs resignation was shocking to the yankees. Two days after his official resignation, Lee was appointed a major general of the confederate forces in Virginia -- showing his loyalty to his home state. Robert E. Lee when then go on to serve in several different regions throughout Virginia.
Robert E. Lee imagined that by battling in Maryland, he could win support from the general population of Maryland, and also bolster his troops with nourishment from Maryland ranches. President Abraham Lincoln put Major General George B. McClellan accountable for the Union troops in charge of safeguarding Washington, D.C., against Lee 's attack. McClellan 's Army of the Potomac conflicted first with Lee 's men on September 14, with the
He declined the offer though, because he was from Virginia, which was in the South (“Robert E. Lee Biography.”). Lee’s very first role was commander of the South (“Biography:”). He took command of forces in Virginia in 1861. In 1862, he became the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia (“Robert E. Lee” History Learning). While fighting in the war, Joseph E. Johnston was wounded, so Lee took over as the commander of the Confederate forces.
Chancellorsville gave Lee great confidence, Lee attacked strong Union positions on high ground, the Federals wouldn’t budge. To take the fight to enemy soil and see the Yankees run in the face of his aggressive troops. Lee ordered a massive frontal assault against, taking full responsibility for the defeat. He wrote Jefferson Davis offering his resignation. The attack known as Pickett’s charge was a failure and Lee recognizing the the bottle was lost, ordered his army to
Then for two years, he tried to make it profitable again. In 1859, Lee returned to the army at a very difficult position at a lonely cavalry outpost in Texas. Then in October Lee’s attack against John Brown at Harper’s Ferry, only lasted an hour. This put him on a list of names to lead the Union army if they go to war. Lee surprised with his offer, turned it down.
In 1865, Richmond, Virginia fell, and the Confederates were scattered. Lee and the Confederates retreated westward, but they were cut off by Union troops. They were surrounded at Appomattox Courthouse, and Lee had no choice but to surrender. Devastated, he surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant and the Union. After the Civil War ended, Lee became a private citizen, but wasn’t allowed to become an official citizen or take office.
But with the union retreating Lee still thought he was in good shape to win the battle. But he was mistaken because the first day of fighting had cost him too much and he drove the Union forces onto some excellent defensive to rain outside of Gettysburg. With these great positions the union soldiers were able to defend successive confederate attacks. The union 's position had great natural barriers that made it hard for the Confederates to
“After defeating the Union forces of General Hooker at Chancellorsville… Confederate General Robert E. Lee decided to invade the North in hopes of further discouraging the enemy and possibly inducing European countries to recognize the
Lee had the intention of drawing the Union’s men out into the open, and having his army attack them right then and there. As Lee and his army approached Gettysburg, Lee became aware that there was a shoe factory nearby, and that most of his army did not have shoes, so they started heading to the shoe factory. Little did they know, the factory was crawling with Union soldiers. The Union and Confederate fired shots at each other for three days, resulting in a rough estimate of 50,000
This took place on the hills south of Gettysburg where the Union successfully held their ground. On the second day they continued the battle where the Confederates gained very little ground but not enough to change the war involving 100, 000 soldiers and with 20,000 killed or injured. It was the final day where the Confederates took a full assault with 12,000 confederates known as Pickett’s Charge which was a center line attacked against the Union. The Union held their ground using artillery fire and rifles which led to retreat of the confederates while successfully pushing them back south.
Before this Lee was making all the Union Generals look terrible and then the Union finally got a win. This changed the whole war because then the Union started winning more battles and they would add up and eventually lead to them winning the war. There was no chance of the Union winning the war until this
The Battle technically lasted 3 days, September 16-18 1862, although, the main fighting was only on the 17th. George McClellan was the Union General of the troops in that Battle, and Robert. E. Lee was the confederate General. Lee was at a disadvantage because his army was half the size of McClellan’s army. Both sides suffered about 10,000 casualties and the Battle was generally considered a tie, it was thought that the Union army could have shattered Lee’s army if they had pursued him back south.