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Gettysburg National Military Park |
1863: A Grim Year
It was the pivotal year of the Civil War. It had been two years since the Civil War began at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. By 1863, the war had been raging without any end in sight and the cost in human terms was much larger than anyone could have guessed. By January 1863, the North was war weary. Northern armies had suffered several humiliating defeats in Virginia, blood had been spilled with no positive results, and the issue of slavery and the Emancipation Proclamation had split political sympathies in the North.
The South had everything to gain. Though they had lost important sea ports and coastal areas to Union forces, Confederate armies had beaten back every Union attempt to take Richmond or capture key elements of the Southern infrastructure. But the South, too, was becoming war-weary and despite the victories of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, the South had suffered reversals in Louisiana and Mississippi. Politically, Southern leaders had been unable to persuade European powers of France and England to recognize the Confederacy as an independent nation, fighting for complete severance from the Union. Without this international support, the South was on its own.
In the spring of 1863, the Union undertook several new campaigns, the most notable being the drive to capture Vicksburg, Mississippi, the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River, and the renewed drive in Virginia to flank Lee out of his position near Fredericksburg, Virginia. General U.S. Grant's Union forces were successful in slowly surrounding Vicksburg, while General Joseph Hooker's Army of the Potomac was soundly defeated at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia on May 1-5, 1863. This battle was Robert E. Lee's greatest victory, but also his greatest loss, that of his "right arm", General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. Despite this loss, Lee knew that to take attention away from Vicksburg and get the fighting out of Virginia would involve a march northward and into Union territory. By mid-May, Lee's plans were about to be put into motion, The Confederates at Vicksburg were desperately holding out, and the North hungered for some bright news in this dismal conflict.
It is June 1863 and the Gettysburg Campaign is underway! Take a look at The Yankee Gazette or The Southern Defender once a week until the broadcast. Follow your soldier's march to Gettysburg!
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The Yankee Gazette |
The Southern Defender Southern Defender, June 3, 1863 Southern Defender, June 11, 1863 Southern Defender, June 19, 1863 |
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The Star and Sentinel Gettysburg Star & Sentinel, June 11, 1863 Gettysburg Star & Sentinel June 19, 1863 |
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National Park Service
Gettysburg National Military Park
97 Taneytown Road
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 17325