Essay, Research Paper: Gettysburg

There is a lot to say about the Battle of Gettysburg. Many people wonder why this battle out of all others during the war was so great. Many questions were asked. Such as, what did they do for supplies? How did they live? What was the typical military strategy? I will also answer many other questions to in this essay. It’s really hard to believe the things I saw during the movie. It just makes wonder how stupid the government was to even think about starting a Civil War. Millions and millions of men died in this war. For what? Honor? I certainly think they did not die honorably, but just went out there and got slaughtered.
Although many people say that the Union and Confederate armies fought because of the importance of Gettysburg; the thing is that it was just a small town back then. Gettysburg was chosen because it was “good ground”. The Confederate army was passing through to go further north and invade the Union territory. The Union army was having the same idea about the south. Good ground was high terrain surrounded by trees. The role geography played in the war was that the army who was placed on the good ground would have a better position on the opposing forces.
The officers and soldiers had different lifestyles during the war. The generals would be in cabins or log houses with plenty of supplies. The rest of the army had lived in tents with supplies, but not as much as the generals. So basically the higher your rank, the better you r living conditions were.
Although living conditions were different, the strategy was similar. Many times the Union army had to play defensively. The development of trench warfare began. If supplies or ammo got too low, sometimes they would charge and attack the Southerners, like Colonel Chamberlain did when he was defending the line. The Confederate army under the command of General Lee would march all the way to the gate and try to capture it.
When in combat, both sides had the same kind of artillery. Soldiers used muskets and small handguns and generals on the other hand would ride on horseback with a sword and pistol. Another type of weaponry that was used were cannons. Even though cannons were much more powerful, muskets were easier due to the fact that they were portable and fired rounds quicker.
Treatment during the Civil War was very limited. If your ligaments such as an arm or a leg were shot or wounded it would have to amputate it off. That was the only thing that they could do because like I said medical treatment was very limited. If you had gotten shot anywhere else, there was nothing could be done and it would be only a matter of time before you died.
What were the South and North fighting for? Many people asked that question. The North was fighting because they were trying to maintain the Union. The South was fighting for state rights. If you look at it they were both fighting for freedom. So both of their motives for fighting the same reason.
Gettysburg may have been a small town, but it played a large part in the Civil War. I think what made Gettysburg one the biggest battles of the Civil War was the fact that so many people lost their lives and that was the deciding battle where the North won the war. In my personal I think that the whole Civil War was stupid and there was no reason it should have taken place. It was nothing but a massacre of millions of men. Gettysburg was perfect example of this. Like I said before these men died for honor, but getting massacred doesn’t seem honorable to me, just like Gettysburg and the Civil War.




Word Count: 643