Results and Effects from the Battle of Gettysburg

1. Results and Effects from the Battle of Gettysburg

2. Soldiers killed and wounded • Of the 88,000 Northern troops in the battle, more than 23,000 were killed or wounded, about 26.1 percent. • Of 75,000 Confederate troops, more than 28,000 were killed or wounded, approximately 37.3 percent. • More than 7,000 men died over the course of those three days. • The North won and the South was doomed.

3. Confederates were defeated • The whole tide of the war was changed because for the first time, the Confederate army suffered a terrible defeat. • Up to that point, Lee had won most battles against the Federal Army and he was moving into Pennsylvania to gather more supplies and stores for his army. • He had exhausted Virginia and knew there was a lot of food in Pennsylvania.

4. The Plan • Lee also thought it might be possible to invade Washington. But his real hope was to pin one more terrible loss on the Federal Army and persuade it to make peace. • There were no plans to attack the Federal Army at Gettysburg and no plans for the Federal Army to attack the Confederates.

5. Final Days in Battle • At the end of the battle, in which 160,000 men clashed, 7,500 lay dead from both sides. It was a fierce and bloody battle that was won by the Federal Army. • Robert E. Lee attempted and failed to invade the North in a move designed to take pressure off of Virginia and possibly earn a victory that could end the war. The failure of Pickett’s Charge meant that the South had lost. The loss for the South was demoralizing and General Lee never again attempted to invade the North on this grand scale.

6. Lee’s final thought about the Battle • Lee is quoted as saying-"this is all my fault, it is I that have lost this fight." He retreated back into Virginia and his grand plan to produce a victory on Union soil was defeated and the tide of the whole war was changed.