Gettysburg
This is a picture of the Battle of Gettysburg which shows the Confederates charging the Union. This was a major turning point in the war.
Day 1 Of Gettysburg
The battle of Gettysburg happened because General Lee wanted to march on Washington D.C. to split the Union in half. Little did they know that their march on this small town in Pennsylvania would lead to a bloody three day battle. During day one the Union troops held the city and the Confederate troops were infiltrating from the north. After a small battle the Union troops were forced out of the city and they had to regroup. They ended up forming a "fishhook" formation from Little Round Top all the way to Wolf's Hill. At the end of the day the Union was in this new formation with reinforcements to the east and the Confederacy held the city of Gettysburg. "In great deeds something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear, but spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of souls.” - Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
Day 2 Of Gettysburg
During day two of the battle of Gettysburg the Confederates move south to flank the Union at Little Round Top to try and break the Union line. There was a group that had been at the end of this line called the 20th Maine and they held off the Confederate army. To get more into depth with this we will start with the Confederates charged up Little Round Top to try and over-run the Union because they outnumbered the 20th Maine 7 to 1. The 20th Maine led by Major Chamberlin fixed baonetts after about two waves of Confederate soldiers because they had run out of ammo. They acutally ended up pushing the Confederate troops back to where they came from! At the end of the day the Confederacy still held the town of Gettysburg and the Union still remained in this fishhook position. The amazing thing about this day of the battle is that if Major Chamberlin and his misfits of the 20th Maine would've gave up and let the Confederacy break the line the Civil War may have tilted into the favor of the Confederacy rather than the Union.
Day 3 Of Gettysburg
Finally day three of Gettysburg has arrived and General Lee saw no other option but to move a large majority of his troops across a field (the Wheat field) to try and over-run the Union line from its strongest point. At the beginning of day three cannons were fired from the Confederacy side trying to break the Union's line. At about the middle of the day the Confederates had almost 20,000 troops move across the Wheat field on what was basically a suicide mission. At the end of the day after suffering huge losses General Lee ordered the retreat and the rest of the Confederate troops retreated to the woods. It is said that on this day that not one Confederate soldier passed the stone barricade that the Union set up. That is amazing in itself, but this three day battle of Gettysburg was the turning point of this Civil War.