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USS Gettysburg, BC-1863

The USS Gettysburg was named for The Battle of Gettysburg, one of the most important battles of the American Civil War. Fought at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in the Eastern Theater of the War, the battle raged from July 1st through 3rd, 1863. Confederate General Robert E. Lee invaded Pennsylvania for both strategic and logistical reasons, in this campaign, which he hoped would end the War. Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, approximately 75,000 men, encountered the Union Army of the Potomac, approximately 90,000 strong, under Major General George G. Meade on the outskirts of Gettysburg on July 1st. In a battle of considerable movement, Advance forces of Lee’s Army (Lt. General A.P. Hill’s and Lt. General Richard S. Ewell’s Corps) tested first the Union right (July 1st), engaging Union Cavalry and Infantry under Brigadier General John Buford, Major General John F. Reynolds (1st Corps), and Major General Oliver Howard (11th Corps). Then, in an assault led by Lt. General James Longstreet’s Second Corp (Major General John B. Hood's and Major General Lafayette McLaw's Divisions), the Union left (July 2nd). While some area's, such as the Peach Orchard were taken, this attacks main focus, on the Union Held High Ground, including Little Round Top, was repulsed by forces such as Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlain's Maine Regiment. On July 3rd, Major General George E. Pickett (along with Major General Isaac R. Trimble and Brigadier General J. Johnston Pettigrew, of A.P. Hill's Corps) led perhaps the most famous charge in American military history against the Union center on Cemetery Ridge. Only 5,000 of this original force of 15,000 survived the repulse. This Three-day struggle is considered the turning point in the Eastern Theater of the War.
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