United States History Student Edition

The North Turns the Tide GUIDING QUESTION How did the Battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg alter the war? In the spring of 1863, the Confederates had the upper hand. Their victory at Chancellorsville had ruined Union plans to attack Richmond. Lee was emboldened. He decided to take the war once more into the North, hoping to impress France and Britain. The Confederate strategy was similar to that of the colonies in the Revolutionary War. Though they were far outnumbered, the colonies won the support of France—and they won the war. Now, France and Britain missed the goods, especially cotton, that Southern planters had once supplied. If the Confederates appeared to be winning, those nations might help their cause.

The Battle of Gettysburg For three days in early July, the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, became the site of one of the most decisive battles in the Civil War. Confederates had entered Gettysburg looking for supplies. Instead, they encountered the enemy. On the first day of battle, outnumbered Union troops retreated to a section of high ground called Cemetery Ridge. Reinforcements arrived for both sides. The next day, the Confederates tried to drive Union forces from hills nearby, but General Meade’s men held their positions. Then, on July 3, Lee ordered an attack designed to “create a panic and virtually destroy the [Union] army.” Following an artillery attack, General George Pickett led thousands of troops on the Union’s position at Cemetery Ridge— directly into the line of fire across open land. Pickett’s Charge broke the first line of Union defense, but over half of Pickett’s army suffered casualties. Lee later wrote, “The army did all it could. I fear I required of it impossibilities.” When Lee’s troops left Gettysburg after three grueling days of fighting, they had suffered 25,000 casualties. The Union—the victor—had lost 23,000. The Confederates lost all hope of gaining help from Britain and France following their defeat. A Union Victory in the West On July 4, the day Lee retreated from Gettysburg, Confederates suffered another major blow: Vicksburg, Mississippi, fell to Union troops led by Ulysses S. Grant. Vicksburg was atop a cliff overlooking the Mississippi River. Control of Vicksburg meant control of the river. Abraham Lincoln said, “Let us get Vicksburg and all that country is ours. The war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket.” In May, Grant began a siege of Vicksburg; that is, he surrounded and blockaded the town, preventing food and supplies from reaching the Confederates. Union gunships on the river below fired thousands of shells into the city. The siege lasted 47 days. A few days after Vicksburg fell, the Confederacy lost Port Hudson in Louisiana, its last stronghold on the Mississippi River. The Union had split the South in two. The tide of the Civil War had turned. encounter to meet, come upon siege surrounding and blockading a town or outpost Division and Civil War 459

Battle of Gettysburg On the third day of heavy fighting at Gettysburg, the Confederates mounted a bold attack on the Union lines.

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GEOGRAPHY CONNECTION 1. Spatial Thinking Where did the Confederates concentrate their attack? 2. Exploring Place What about the Union position as shown on this map might have given Union forces an advantage?

(1)Boritt, Gabor S., ed. The Gettysburg Nobody Knows. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997; (2)Bowen, J. J. The Strategy of Robert E. Lee. New York: The Neale Publishing Company, 1914.