THE GHOSTS OF GETTYSBURG
ONE OF AMERICA'S MOST HAUNTED PLACES
Most Civil War enthusiasts would say the battle which was fought near the small Pennsylvania town in 1863 was the greatest battle of the war.... or at the very least, a turning point which led to the fall of the Confederacy. For ghost hunters, the mere mention of Gettysburg conjures up images of haunted buildings, strange battlefield encounters and restless ghosts.
THE GUNS OF GETTYSBURG
By early summer of 1863, the war in the east was going well for the Confederacy. Lee, confident after his victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, urged President Davis to once again take the war to the north. By doing so, this would take the fighting out of Virginia and relieve the pressure being felt by the government in Richmond. It would also ease the load on the Confederate supply lines because if the invasion could be pushed far enough to the north, it would allow the soldiers to live off the land. In addition, Lee’s invasion would also draw attention away from Grant’s siege of Vicksburg, plus, if any northern towns could be captured by the Confederates, it just might push the war-weary citizens of the north to the discussion of a settlement between the two nations.
It seemed as though the outlook for a northern invasion was completely positive and if a downside existed, Lee couldn’t find it. So, moving in secret, Lee began his northern thrust on June 3, 1863. He marched his troops into the Shenandoah Valley and pushed them on, using the mountains as a shield. After the death of Stonewall Jackson a short time before, the Army of Northern Virginia had been re-organized into three corps, each commanded by A.P. Hill, Richard S. Ewell and James Longstreet. The cavalry was commanded by the magnificent J.E.B. Stuart.
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