Gettysburg:  The Battle That Changed the Course of History

Never Forget What They Did Here

Prior to the settlement of Adams County, Pennsylvania, Native Americans occupied the area for thousands of years. In 1736, Pennsylvania’s founding Penn Family authorized European settlers to inhabit the land that would one day become Gettsysburg. An early Adams County settler, Samuel Gettys, established a tavern in the area in 1761 and twenty-five years later, his son James had laid out Gettysburg with 210 lots and a central town square on the land surrounding the tavern. Gettysburg was already established as a peaceful and rural hub...

Until Union and Confederate soldiers crossed paths on that fateful day in 1863.

General Lee Marches North and The Union is Waiting

The pain and agony of those who died over the course of those three, unspeakable days of fighting was so intense that its echoes have never faded, despite the fact that the historic event took place over 150 years ago.

Almost 50,000 Union and Confederate soldiers, who fought under generals Robert E. Lee and Ulysses E. Grant, drew their final dying breaths fighting for their lives and country, and many have never left, roaming the countryside and becoming the source of some of the most bone-chilling ghost sightings and hauntings of Gettysburg and the entire country.

In 1863, General Robert E. Lee marched 75,000 strong northwards towards central Pennsylvania when he was met by 95,000 men of the Union Army of the Potomac led by General Meade. Most of the Confederate attacks on the Union defensive were unsuccessful, only succeeding in driving the Union troops back in a few key areas with many casualties.

General Lee then decided that his troops would attack what he thought to be the Union Line’s weakest position on the following day. At the same time, General Meade held a meeting with his Corp Commanders and decided to remain in a defensive position for the battle that was anticipated the next day. 

Each commander’s decision led to one of the most famous days of the American Civil War, the final day of the Battle of Gettysburg, which resulted in Lee’s retreat back to Virginia. Though the battle only lasted three days, it is widely considered to be the turning point of the Civil War.

“Four score and seven years ago…”

On November 18, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln arrived in Gettysburg to deliver the now-famous Gettysburg Address at what is now the Soldier's National Cemetery, and it is said that he completed its final draft while staying in the city. 

Lincoln declared that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”, ensuring that the significance of his words would forever be remembered– even over the battle itself.