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Battle of Gettysburg. Photo by Currier and Ives..

Top 10 Amazing Facts about Battle of Gettysburg (1863)

The Battle of Gettysburg, fought from July 1 to July 3, 1863, is considered the most important engagement of the American Civil War. After a great victory over Union forces at Chancellorsville, General Robert E. Lee marched his Army of Northern Virginia into Pennsylvania in late June 1863. The battle occurred in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War.

 On July 1, the advancing Confederates clashed with the Union鈥檚 Army of the Potomac, commanded by General George G. Meade, at the crossroads town of Gettysburg. The next day saw even heavier fighting, as the Confederates attacked the Federals on both left and right.

On July 3, Lee ordered an attack by fewer than 15,000 troops on the enemy鈥檚 center at Cemetery Ridge. The assault, known as 鈥淧ickett鈥檚 Charge,鈥� managed to pierce the Union lines but eventually failed at the cost of thousands of rebel casualties.

Lee was forced to withdraw his battered army toward Virginia on July 4. The Union had won in a major turning point, stopping Lee鈥檚 invasion of the North. It inspired Lincoln鈥檚 鈥淕ettysburg Address,鈥� which became one of the most famous speeches of all time. Here are the top  10 Amazing Facts about Battle of Gettysburg (1863)

1. A new general was appointed shortly before the battle

Photo by Library Company of Philadelphia. .

General George Meade was installed by President Lincoln 3 days before the battle. President Lincoln had not been impressed by Joseph Hooker鈥檚 reluctance to pursue the Confederate Army. Meade, in contrast, immediately pursued Lee鈥檚 75,000-strong army.

Eager to destroy the Union Army, Lee arranged for his troops to assemble in Gettysburg on 1 July. Union troops, led by John Buford, assembled on low ridges in the northwest of the town, but they were outnumbered and southern troops were able to drive the Union Army south through the town to Cemetery Hill on this first day of battle.

2. The battle was fought at Gettysburg because of the area road system

The Town of Gettysburg, population 2,000, was a town on the rise. It boasted three newspapers, two institutes of higher learning, several churches and banks, but no shoe factory or warehouse. The ten roads that led into town are what brought the armies to Gettysburg.

3. Almost 16,000 people died on the first day

At first, the rebels鈥� odds of scoring a victory in Gettysburg seemed pretty good鈥攖he first major clash on July 1 involved 7600 Confederate infantries fighting against 2748 Union cavalry. Later on that day, around 27,000 Confederate soldiers approached from the north and drove 22,000 Union soldiers out of the town, leaving them to reconvene on Cemetery Hill to the south.

By evening, Lee had lost over 6000 men and around 9000 northerners had been killed. Had the fighting ended after that first day, Gettysburg still would have had one of the 20 highest body counts of any battle in the war.

4. Only one civilian died in the battle

A map showing the position of troops in the battle. Photo by Unknown.

Twenty-year-old Mary Virginia Wade (also known as Jennie or Gennie) had the distinction of being the only civilian to die at Gettysburg during the battle. A resident of the town, she was hit by a stray bullet as she was baking a loaf of bread. Wade is now commemorated by a statue on Baltimore Street.

5. Female soldiers also participated in the battle!

Hundreds of women are thought to have enlisted in the battle. Nine verified female soldiers died on a Civil War battlefield, and one of them was killed at Gettysburg.

One died in Pickett鈥檚 charge, the final skirmish at the Battle of Gettysburg. Another female Confederate soldier took a bullet to one leg, which had to be amputated. At least one more female Confederate and two female Union soldiers also saw action.

6. Gettysburg veterans held a big reunion in 1913

Gettysburg threw a massive party to commemorate the 50th anniversary of its great battle. The event began on June 29, 1913 and lasted until July 6. More than 50,000 Civil War vets鈥攎ost of whom were in their seventies鈥攖urned up to commemorate the event.

New memorials were dedicated, former enemies took photos together, and President Woodrow Wilson gave a speech. A highlight was the peaceful reenactment of Pickett鈥檚 charge: 200 veterans retraced the steps they鈥檇 taken half a century earlier and then met up on Cemetery Ridge to trade handshakes.

7. An exodus of Black families preceded the battle

Photo of Postage stamp, 1963 5-cent issue, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. Photo by Bureau of Engraving and Printing. .

On June 12, 1863, Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin announced that 鈥渋nformation has been obtained by the War Department that a large rebel force, composed of cavalry, artillery, and mounted infantry, has been prepared for the purpose of making a raid into Pennsylvania.鈥�

This news was especially alarming to Black families, because Confederate soldiers often seized African Americans as “contraband” when they raided Union territory. By the end of June, hundreds of Black refugees from Gettysburg and neighboring areas had escaped to Harrisburg, the state鈥檚 capital. When Confederates tried to take the city on June 28, Black volunteers helped thwart their efforts.

8. The battle forever transformed the town of Gettysburg

Prior to the Civil War, Gettysburg had been a prosperous village that supported two small colleges. After the battle, however, it would forever be seared by the memories of the slaughter.

In the battle鈥檚 immediate aftermath, corpses outnumbered residents of the village of just over 2,000 by four to one. While it took years for the town to recover from the trauma, the first pilgrims arrived just days after the guns fell silent.

9. The Second Day鈥檚 Battle was the largest of the three

On the second of three extremely bloody and costly battle days, the fighting took place at famous locations such as Devil鈥檚 Den, Little Round Top, Cemetery Hill, Culp鈥檚 Hill, and the Peach Orchard.

All told, the second day鈥檚 battle required over 100,000 soldiers, 20,000 of whom ended up killed, wounded, captured, or missing. Overall, the battle ranked as the 10th bloodiest battle of the Civil War 鈥� all in just one day!

10. The wagon train of wounded Confederates was 17 miles long

Gettysburg Council of War. Photo by James Edward Kelly. .

After a shocking and disheartening defeat, the Army of North Virginia fled Gettysburg on July 4 bound for home. There were enough wounded soldiers to fill a 17-mile wagon train that filed back down through Pennsylvania and Maryland, bound for Virginia.

However, the company met trouble when they reached the Potomac River; heavy rainfall arrived as the battle ceased and lasted for several days, causing dangerously high-water levels and blocking the troops鈥� passage across.