The American Civil War - This Mighty Scourge of War

The fighting 173

at the crossroads town of Gettysburg that
began on 1 July would draw all of them back
south into the maw of the war's greatest
battle. The long columns of blue-clad
Union troops marching north through
an arc surrounding Washington also wound
up adjusting their route of march for that

place. Gettysburg was a 'meeting

engagement' in every sense. No one picked

the battle site. Roads drew small contending

A nineteenth-century view looking northwest from

the crest of Little Round Top across the scenes of the

heaviest fighting in the history of North America.

(Public domain)