Battle of Gettysburg essays

Battle of Gettysburg essays The American people in 1860 believed they were the luckiest people alive in all the world. This was before the start of what some believe as the first real civil war. (Catton 108). The battle, demonstrating as it did the effectiveness of the Confederate army, changed the status of the conflict from a rebellion to a civil war. Six hundred thousand young Americans, alive when 1860 ended, would all of the explosion in the next four years. The Confederates had won the war, but their efforts, Jackson complained, left them more disorganized by victory than [the Union army was] by defeat. (Starr 103). One major battle that led to Gettysburg and the Confederate defeat was the battle of Bull Run. The battle took place on July 21, 1961, and was to be the day bearing the fate of the newborn confederacy. (Beauregard). The battle of Bull Run was fought in Virginia, near the Manassas, Virginia railway junction, after which the battle is called (or First Bull Run, named after the flowing stream on the battlefield). According to Michael Golay, author of To Gettsburg and Beyond, Lieutenant Haskell, a Union aide, remarked that: At the early battles we thought that we had heard heavy cannonading; they were but holiday salutes compared to this. Besides the great ceaseless roar of the guns, which was but the background for the others, a million various minor sounds engaged the ear. The projectiles shriek long and sharp. They hiss, they scream, they growl, they sputter, all sounds of life and rage; and each has its different not, The victory at Bull Run left the Confederate command feeling that the next move was pretty much up to the Yankees of the Union. The Confederates seemed very unprepared and the Union was anxious to make the next move. Although, the Union was quite primed for the next ...