July 2013 Travel Photo: Looking at the Confederate Line from the Union Position on top of Cemetery Ridge Gettysburg

On July 3, 1863 some 12,500 Confederate soldiers lined up in the tree line in the photo below.  These men marched one mile (~1.6 kilometers) under cannon, rifle, and musket fire.  The Confederate's goal was the Union line up on Cemetery Ridge.  The assault failed and was known as Pickett's Charge, the hightide of the Confederacy.

The march cost the Union 1,500 men while the Confederates suffered 50 percent causalities.

The white monument in the distance is the main memorial to Confederate General Robert E. Lee, who commanded Southern forces in the battle.  During the charge Lee was actually further north (to the right) but his monument was placed in its current location so it can look directly at the monument dedicated to General George Meade, commander of Northern forces in the battle. 

Mead's monument triumphantly looks over the battlefield knowing he held the ridge.

General George Meade.  He took command of the army three days before the battle and was the first Union general to completely defeat Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.