Posted on 01/15/06 @ 09:55 AM
In July of 1863, General Robert E. Lee's Army Of Northern Virginia of 75000 men and the 97000 man Union Army Of The Potomac under General George G. Meade met, by chance, when a Confederate brigade sent forward for supplies observed a forward column of Meade's cavalry. Of the more than 2000 land engagements of the Civil War, Gettysburg ranks supreme. Although the Battle of Gettysburg did not end the war, nor did it attain any major war aim for the North or the South, it remains the great battle of the war. Here at Gettysburg on July 1863, more men actually fought and more men died than in any other battle before or since on North American soil.