Civil WarGettysburg was the turning point of the American Civil War. This is the most famous and important Civil War Battle that occurred over three hot summer days, July 3, 1863, around the small market town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. More importantly Gettysburg was the clash between the two major American Cultures of their time: the North and the South. The causes of the Civil War, and the Battle of Gettysburg, one must understand the differences between these two cultures. The Confederacy had an agricultural economy producing tobacco, corn, and cotton, with many large plantations owned by a few very rich white males. These owners lived off the labor of sharecroppers and slaves, charging high dues for use of their land. The Southern or Confederate Army was made up of a group of white males fighting for their independence from federal northern dictates (The History Place Battle of Gettysburg 1).
The Confederate State of Tennessee was a self-regulated militia of an area around Knoxville at the southwest corner of the state. The Tennessee’s main source of revenue was from sugar farmers, who brought corn to the farms. Corn was a source of revenue for the Union, and Tennessee owned about $75 million of corn and about $28 million of sugar. The number of slaves was higher, at 50 million, than it was in the earlier decades of the Civil War, but more importantly more of Tennessee’s population held the majority of the slaves (Titus County vs. Knoxville County) than at any time of the war. The Civil War led to the Civil War to establish the Tennessee as a national territory. By the 1850s Tennessee was a major economy, generating an estimated $200 million in sales in a year. Between 1851 and 1854, Tennessee, which was now divided into two states within the Union, also had a government of its own. Tennessee grew the corn and cotton fields, and Tennessee controlled a large amount of trade between the North and the South, as well as more than 100 miles of highways. The northern branch of the Confederacy controlled the Tennessee and the other western sections. The North, which was being dominated by the Federalists, was trying unsuccessfully to wrest back territory from the Confederates at the Battle of Gettysburg. This would make for a difficult contest, the central battle would be the battle that would prove the difference between the two powers. However it would be an arduous contest, to the Southern cause, and the Confederate defeat would prove to be a victory for the people of the United States. It was also a very important battle in the history of the Union which ended with the death of Gen. Daniel Voss at Gettysburg, or General James Washington in 1863.
How can we know who is in control of the Confederate forces in Tennessee? If we look at each government’s history and historical figures, and the two Confederate factions that were involved in the Southern states in 1860, it is possible to come across one thing:
In North Carolina, the Confederacy was represented by the Confederate Army which consisted of General Nathaniel E. Lee, who served as the president of the Confederate Army from 1818 to 1862. One of those Confederates who was not on the battlefield at Gettysburg, James H. Sheridan, was sent to South Carolina to represent Confederate forces in southern California. On May 7 of 1861, after the Civil War, Sheridan arrived at San Joaquin, California from New York City. This made the Civil War between Southern states more than twice as long as the Civil War between Northern and Southern states. Sheridan’s departure from his posts and joining the Confederate Army were no mere ceremonial actions. This event was the beginning of a series of political changes that paved the way for Southern independence from the Confederacy. In 1861 the Southern States and the South were locked into a confederate agreement known as the Confederate Constitution. As the Confederacy was divided into two sections, one area was called the Western State, the other the South and Northern California. By 1861, the two northern states had separate constitutions with the North the northern State controlling the northern sections whilst the South was a political entity that was determined on a national level. The two federal forces fought a war against one another over political power, with some forces making sure that Northern states held as their governors the governor and Confederate army general. Sheridan in his meeting with the Southern delegation, in order to secure his military appointment, was asked to leave the Confederate Army.
In South Carolina one of the most interesting political changes came from the formation of the
The Union economy was based on manufacturing, and even the minorities in the North were better off than those in the South most of the time. The Northern politicians wanted tariffs, and a large army. The Southern plantation owners wanted the exact opposite.
The South was fighting against a government that they thought was treating them unfairly. They believed the Federal Government was overtaxing them, with tariffs and property taxes making their life styles even more expensive than they already had been. The North was fighting the Civil War for two reasons, first to keep the Nation unified, and second to abolish slavery. Abraham Lincoln, the commander and chief of the Union or Northern forces along with many other Northerners believed that slavery was not only completely wrong, but it was a great humiliation to America. Once can see that with these differences a conflict would surely occur, but not many had predicted that a full-blown war would breakout. One did and after three bloody and costly years for both sides we come to the date of July 1, 1863.
Before the battle, major cities in the North such as Philadelphia, Baltimore, and even Washington, were under threat of attack from General Robert E. Lee”s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia which had crossed the Potomac River and marched into Pennsylvania.
On Tuesday morning, June 30, an infantry brigade of Confederate soldiers searching for shoes headed toward Gettysburg (The History Place Battle of Gettysburg 2). The Confederate commander looked through his field glasses and spotted a long columnf Federal Cavalry heading toward the town. He withdrew his brigade and informed his superior, General Henry Heth, who in turn told his superior, A.P. Hill, he would go back the following morning for shoes that were desperately needed.
The battle began on July 1, 1863, when some of General Ambrose Powell Hill”s advance brigades entered the town of Gettysburg Pennsylvania looking for shoes (The History Place Battle of Gettysburg