Virtual Battle Brief - Turning Back the Tide: The Union Army and the Third Day at Gettysburg

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Library of Congress

The Battle of Gettysburg

After two days of bloody fighting on July 1 and 2, 1863 at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Confederate General Robert E. Lee ordered 12,000 of his soldiers to attack the Union lines on Cemetery Ridge on the battle’s third and final day. This assault, later known as “Pickett’s Charge,” threatened to overrun the Federals’ positions and split Maj. Gen. George G. Meade’s Army of the Potomac in half. Learn from museum educator and historian John Maass how Union forces were able to turn back the Southern onslaught, hold their lines, and win the day in one of the American Civil War’s most significant battles.

Dr. John R. Maass is an education specialist at the National Museum of the United States Army and a former officer in the 80th Division of the Army Reserve. He received a B.A. in history from Washington and Lee University and a Ph.D. from the Ohio State University in early U.S. history and military history. His most recent book is “The Battle of Guilford Courthouse: A Most Desperate Engagement” (2020).