Battle Of Gettysburg example essay topic

General Chamberlain was thirty four years old during the battle of Gettysburg. He preferred to be called Lawrence. He was a tall, handsome man and was married to a woman named Harriet Breeches. He was also a very educated man being a professor at Bowdoin University and speaking seven different languages. Chamberlain wanted to be a soldier his whole life. He planned to take a sabbatical to France but instead signed up for the Twentieth Regiment of Infantry in Maine.

At the battle of Gettysburg he was ordered to defend Little Round Top as the flank, or end of the Union line. He stopped the Confederates from going around the Union line by ending the battle with a bayonet charge when his troops ran low on ammunition. His bayonet charge was successful and he defended Little Round Top. General Robert E. Lee was the commander of the Southern army. He was a graduate of West Point and later fought in the Mexican War. He began his invasion of the North on June 15, 1861.

He gathered 70,000 men made up of rebels and volunteers. Lee was 57 years old during the battle of Gettysburg and was five foot ten inches tall. He had a white beard and always wore a gray uniform with a felt hat. He thought novels and plays weakened the mind. He didnt own slaves nor believed in slavery but didnt believe that the Negro could be considered equal to whites. He was a man who never lost his temper and never complained which was why he was such a good leader.

At the start of the war Abraham Lincoln wanted Lee to be the commander of the North but Lee refused to accept the offer because he was from Virginia and he decided to lead the Southern army. After the war as part of Lees punishment the Arlington National Cemetery was made on his estate across from the Potomac River. General Longstreet was forty-two years old during the battle of Gettysburg. He was second in command and was a very large man.

He wasnt from Virginia but he was still Lees right hand man. He was a crude man and had a full, long beard. Longstreet invented a theory of defensive warfare, which helped the South win many battles. That winter three of his children died from a fever.

He was also known as the Dutchman and Old Pete. On the third day of Gettysburg he told Lee not to attack right up the middle but Lee disapproved his request and the South lost the battle. Pickett was forty-two when fighting in Gettysburg. He graduated last in his class from West Point. He was in love with a schoolgirl half his age named La Salle Corbel le and was good friends with Abe Lincoln. He made one of the final attacks at Gettysburg by charging up the middle but the plan failed and most of his brigade died.

The charge was later named, Pickets Charge. Jeb Stuart was thirty years old during Gettysburg. He was not only a banjo player, but also the leader of the cavalry. He was the type of man who loved to read about himself in the Richmond newspapers. He was a dashing soldier who wore a plumed hat and a red lined cape.

He was one of the best known cavalry leaders of the Civil War. Stuart rose to Major General in July 1861 and was given command of all cavalry in the Army of Northern Virginia. Raiding and scouting over wide areas, his troops became Lees eyes and ears. His mission during the battle was to keep Lee informed of the movement of the Union Army, but he failed. He was unsure of himself at Gettysburg. His failure to drive the Federals from the ridges south of town proved to be a critical factor in the outcome of the battle.

Another Confederate failing was the absence of Jeb Stuarts Southern cavalry. Stuart was spending too much time raiding through Pennsylvania and not enough time supplying badly needed information on federal troop movements. On May 11, 1864, Stuart was mortally wounded in a cavalry fight outside Richmond. He died the following day.

Lees cavalry was never as effective there after..