Battle of Gettysburg (1863)

The three-day Battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863) was the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War with 50,000 to 51,000 casualties. Lee's failure to break Union lines at Cemetery Ridge on Pickett's Charge ended the last major Confederate offensive in the North and effectively ensured the eventual Union victory. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, delivered at the battlefield cemetery four months later, redefined American democratic ideals.