Battle of Gettysburg (1863)

Fought over three days from 1-3 July 1863 in southern Pennsylvania, Gettysburg produced 51,000 casualties — the bloodiest battle on American soil — and marked the decisive turning point of the Civil War. General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia launched Pickett's Charge on the final day, a catastrophic frontal assault across open ground that destroyed the Confederate offensive capability for good. Lee never again mounted a major offensive. Lincoln's 272-word Gettysburg Address, delivered at the dedication of the battlefield cemetery four months later, redefined the meaning of the war and American democracy itself.