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Third Day of the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg and the Aftermath
General Lee wished to renew the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg attack on Friday, July 3, using the same basic plan as the previous day: Longstreet would attack the Federal left, while Ewell attacked Culp's Hill. However, before Longstreet was ready, Federal XII Corps troops attacked the Confederates on Culp's Hill in an effort to regain a portion of their lost works. The fight for Culp's Hill ended around 11 a.m., after some seven hours of bitter combat.
Lee was forced to change his plans. Now Longstreet would command Pickett's Virginia division of his own First Corps, plus six brigades from Hill's Corps, in an attack on the Federal II Corps position at the right center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge. Prior to the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg attack, all the artillery the Confederacy could bring to bear on the Federal positions would bombard and weaken the enemy's line.
The day was hot during the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg—87 degrees by one account—and the Confederates suffered under the hot sun awaiting the order to advance. Around 1:00 p.m., 170 Confederate cannons began an artillery bombardment that would become the loudest noise ever heard on the continent. In order to save valuable ammunition for the infantry attack that they knew must follow, the Army of the Potomac's artillery at first did not return the enemy's fire. After waiting about fifteen minutes, eighty or so Federal cannon added to the din. The Army of Northern Virginia was critically low on artillery ammunition, and the cannonade did not significantly affect the Union position. After more than an hour during the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg (some accounts say two hours), the cannon fire subsided, and nearly 13,000 Southern soldiers stepped from the ridgeline and advanced the three-quarters of a mile to Cemetery Ridge. Nearly one half would not return to their own lines. Although the Federal line wavered and broke temporarily at the "Angle," just north of the copse of trees, reinforcements rushed into the breach and the Confederate attack was repulsed. Known to history as "Pickett's Charge," Pickett's Virginians actually composed only one-third of the attacking force, the remainder consisting of North Carolinians, Mississippians, and Tennesseeans, so some recent historians have used the name "Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble Assault" to describe the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg attack.
There were two significant cavalry engagements on July 3rd. Stuart was sent to guard the Confederate left flank and was to be prepared to exploit any success the infantry might achieve on Cemetery Hill by flanking the Federal right and hitting their trains and lines of communications. Three miles east of Gettysburg, in what is now called "East Cavalry Field" (not shown on the accompanying map), Stuart's forces collided with Federal cavalry: Brig. Gen. David McM. Gregg's division and George A. Custer's brigade. A lengthy mounted Civil War Battle of Gettysburg battle, including hand-to-hand sabre combat, ensued. Both sides claimed victory during this battle of the Battle of Gettysburg, but Stuart was blocked from achieving his objectives in the Federal rear. After Pickett's Charge, Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick launched a cavalry charge against the infantry positions of Longstreet's Corps near Little Round Top. Brig. Gen. Elon Farnsworth protested against the futility of such a move, but obeyed orders; Farnsworth was killed in the attack and his brigade suffered significant losses.
The armies stared at one another across the bloody fields on July 4, the same day that the Vicksburg garrison surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. On July 5, in a driving rain, the Army of Northern Virginia left Gettysburg on the Hagerstown Road; the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg was over, and the Confederates headed back to Virginia. Meade's Army of the Potomac followed, though the pursuit was half-spirited at best. The recently rain-swollen Potomac trapped Lee's army on the north bank of the river, but by the time the Federals caught up, the Confederates were ready to cross back to Virginia. The rear-guard action at Falling Waters on July 14 ended the Gettysburg Campaign and added some more names to the long casualty lists, including General Pettigrew, mortally wounded.
Throughout the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg campaign, General Lee seemed to have entertained the belief that his men were invincible; most of Lee's experiences with the army had convinced him of this, including the great victory at Chancellorsville in early May and the rout of the Federals at Gettysburg on July 1. To the detrimental effects of this blind faith were added the fact that the Army of Northern Virginia had many new and inexperienced commanders. (Neither Hill nor Ewell, for instance, though capable division commanders, had commanded a corps before.) Also, Lee's habit of giving general orders and leaving it up to his lieutenants to work out the details contributed to his defeat in the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg. Although this method may have worked with Stonewall Jackson, it proved inadequate when dealing with corps commanders unused to Lee's loose style of command. Lastly, after July 1, the Confederates were simply not able to coordinate their attacks. Lee faced a new and very dangerous opponent in Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, and the Army of the Potomac stood to the task and fought well on its home territory.
The armies would move on, but Gettysburg had much cleaning up to do. The two armies had suffered 51,000 casualties – killed, wounded, and captured/missing from the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg. More than 7,000 soldiers had been killed outright; these bodies, lying in the hot summer sun, needed to be buried quickly. 5,000 horse carcasses were burned in a pile south of town; townsfolk became violently ill from the stench. The ravages of the Battle of Gettysburg would still be evident in Gettysburg more than four months later when, on November 19, the Soldiers' National Cemetery was dedicated. During this ceremony, President Abraham Lincoln with his Gettysburg Address would re-dedicate the nation to the war effort and to the ideal that no soldier at the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg– North or South – had died in vain.
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