Gettysburg
Undaunted by his failure at Antietam, Lee marched into
Northern territory again in the summer of 1863,
this time into Pennsylvania. There, he met Union forces at the Battle
of Gettysburg in early July. At the end of a bloody three-day
struggle in which more than 50,000 died,
Lee was once again forced to retreat. The battle was a resounding
victory for the North and a catastrophe for the South.
Vicksburg
At the same time Lee was losing in the North, Grant was
besieging the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, in the
West. Eventually, the trapped Confederates caved in to Grant’s demand
for an unconditional surrender. This major victory at the Battle
of Vicksburg gave the Union control of the Mississippi River
and thus split the Confederacy in half.
The Gettysburg Address
Lincoln commemorated the Union victory at Gettysburg several months
after the battle with a speech at the dedication of a national cemetery
on the site. Though very brief, the Gettysburg Address was poignant
and eloquent. In the speech, Lincoln argued that the Civil War was
a test not only for the Union but for the entire world, for it would
determine whether a nation conceived in democracy could “long endure.”
