60: Gettysburg

“I shall lead my division forward, sir.”

This is the story of Gettysburg.

It’s summer, 1863, and Robert E. Lee is making a bold move; he’s leading his Army of Northern Virginia into Union territory. He hopes a victory up north might be the decisive blow he needs to demoralize the US. Meanwhile, Union leadership is getting shaken up (yet again) as the Army of the Potomac’s command passes from “Fightin’ Joe” Hooker to George Meade. But the two armies won’t clash on either commander’s terms. They’ll collide somewhat unintentionally at the southeastern Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg.

The battle rages for three days under the hot July sun. It’ll prove the deadliest battle of the entire war. Its impact will long be remembered—as will President Abraham Lincoln’s speech dedicating the final resting place of the battle’s thousands of dead that November.

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