Gettysburg

In three days in July 1863, over 50,000 were killed or injured in the previously quiet farm town of Gettysburg. Confederate General Lee hoped to invade the North and enforce a political settlement with the Union. In nearly every battle before Gettysburg, Lee had been victorious.

On the first day Confederates drove Union forces out of the town and into its southern hills, Culp's and Cemetery Hill. On the second day, the Confederates repeatedly attack the Union flanks and again gained ground.

The morning of the third day saw the Confederates launch one of the largest artillery bombardments of the war. But they fail to damage the Union defences sufficiently. When 12,000 Confederate infantry advanced on the Union centre, nearly a half of them are cut down.

With both sides suffering appalling losses, neither side could claim victory. But Lee's Northern advance was halted. Now, it was the South's turn to be invaded.