IntroductionThe Americans had been engaged in a civil war that began in April 1861 with shots fired at a fort in South Carolina. In the summer of 1863 in a small town called Gettysburg, there would be a fierce battle fought between the Union Army of the Potomac led by General George G. Meade and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia led by General Robert E. Lee. The events of the battle would surpass the losses suffered by the Union and put the Confederacy to flight. “Over 165,000 men would converge, and before the fighting was over, the ground would be red with blood. The battle was fierce and the casualties proved it. But the resulting losses would not have been in vain, at least for the Union; the formidable power of the Army of Northern Virginia would suffer a fatal blow, from which neither they nor the South would ever truly recover. The Union victory at Gettysburg changed the course of the Civil War. The Events General George B. McClellan was the commander of the Army of the Potomac from August 15, 1862 to November 9, 1862, when he was removed from command due to his constant harassment. of the War Department and its inability to achieve victories over rebel armies. On the same day as his removal, General Ambrose E. Burnside would be named the new commander of the Army of the Potomac. President Lincoln gave direct instructions to General Burnside to attack the Army of Northern Virginia. Burnside moved his army to the Rappahannock River area, which was located just outside the town of Fredericksburg, Virginia. When he arrived there on 13 December he found that the rebels had dug in in positions overlooking the river and the city. Because of Burnside's slowly moving units at g...... middle of paper ...... towards American History, Indiana, Alpha Books, 2000Davis, Phil. American Civil War, North Promfret, Vermont, Trafaigar Square Publishing, 2001DeAngeles, Gina, The Battle of Gettysburg: Turning Point of the Civil War, Minnesota, Capstone Press 2003Drake, Samuel, A. Battle of Gettysburg 1863, Massachusetts, Digital Scanning Inc, 2001.Hassler, Warren, W. First Day at Gettysburg: Crisis at the Crossroads, Alabama, University of Alabama Press, 2010Helicon, Hutchison Dictionary of American History, Abingdon, Helicon Publishing, 2006Stackpole, Edward, J. Chancellorsville: Lee's Greatest Battle, Pennsylvania, Stackpole Books, 1958.http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Battle-of-Gettysburg---The-Turning-Point-of-the-War&id=1433501http://library.thinkquest.org/17525/ main.htmhttp://www.civilwarhome.com/burnbio.htmhttp://www.civilwarhome.com/macbio.htm