The decisive battle in the Civil War was fought in southern Pennsylvania, near Gettysburg. It took place over a wide area on July 1st-3rd 1863, when Confederate forces commanded by General Lee which had advanced far into the North were defeated by General Meade's Union army. Altogether 51,000 men on both sides were killed or wounded. Here, four
months later, President Abraham Lincoln pronounced his famous Gettysburg Address, in which he set out his ideas on the future of the Union.
Founded in the 1780s as Marsh Creek Settlement, this town was renamed Gettysburg after General James Gettys. It grew quickly after being incorporated in 1806. Long a stopping point for travelers, because four major highways and several other roads meet at its square, Gettysburg was a strategic location fought over during the Civil War. Today Gettysburg is an essential stop for scholars of the American Civil War.
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