History concepts and applications

Gettysburg & Vicksburg

The battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg were two of the ultimate and deciding events of the United States Civil War. The Gettysburg battle was far and away the bloodiest battle in the war and was a direct defeat for General Lee and his puruit of the North. Vicksburg was also a demoralizing defeat for the Confederates given that they held on for dear life for more than a month and finally had to surrender after a prolonged siege. Both battlefronts hit their climax in July of 1863 and, in concert, spelled the end for the Confederates in the Civil War.

Details of the Battles

The Gettysburg battle was significant because it emphatically and definitely cut off the incursion of the Confederate Army into the North in 1863. Raging on for a couple of days in early July of 1863, both sides sustained more than 23,000 casualties with at least 3,000 killed on both sides and 12,000 injured. The Union Army in total was more than 90,000 and the Confederates had more than 70,000. The Battle of Gettysburg changed the war strategically because the attempts of the South to take over the North by force were effectively ended as a result of this battle. From a diplomatic standpoint, it put the South in a position to have to reassess their priorities and figure out if they could even retain the south. Psychologically, the loss had to be a huge blow to the Confederacy. Indeed, they never did recover from this.

Culminating at about the same time, but actually starting in May of 1863, was the siege of Vicksburg. Just as with Gettysburg, there was a pushing back of Confederate forces. In this case, it led them to hole up in Vicksburg and a 40 day siege ensued. On July 4th, 1863, there was a surrender by the Confederates. The victory of Vicksburg was even more decisive than that of Gettysburg in that there was a very clear winner because there was surrender involved. This was not the case with Gettysburg as the Confederate Army was able to retreat.

Just as with Gettysburg, the loss at Vicksburg basically eliminated any pretense that the Confederacy had a chance to win the war. In both cases, losses made clear that the Confederates would not be on the winning side of the war. Indeed, it spelled the end diplomatically and psychologically because the war was over just a scant two years later. While that two years was roughly half the war's total length, there was no coming back from the demoralizing defeats noted above. 2

Conclusion