It is part of our American cultural heritage to know what happened on July 4th, 1776 in Philadelphia. But we should also remember what happened on another July 4th, 87 years later nearby.
The short
answer is – not much…
It is more a matter of what had just happened.
From July 1st to July 3rd, 1863, the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War was fought at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. On July 4th both sides held their defensive positions and waited in the rain to see if the other side would mount an attack. Neither did. That evening Confederate commander Gen. Robert E. Lee would begin his retreat back to Virginia.
This three day battle was strategically very important for both sides – it was the “high-water mark” of the Confederacy and a turning point in the war that was celebrated by the Union.
But it was at great cost. The casualties from the previous three days of fighting were staggering. The Union probably had over 3,000 killed, about 14,500 wounded and over 5,000 missing or captured. The Confederate losses were similar with almost 5,000 killed, about 12,700 wounded and almost 6,000 missing or captured. This represents a loss of about one-quarter of the Union troops and close to one-third of the Confederate army. It is said that the wagon train carrying the wounded back to the south was 27 miles long.
Is it any wonder that when President Lincoln dedicated the cemetery four and a half months later he made no specific mention in his Gettysburg Address of Union victory at that place but only the broader objectives of the Civil War.
And from the other side we have one of my favorite quotes, although it may be apocryphal. Six months earlier at another battle Robert E. Lee is remembered as saying
That “other” battle was Fredericksburg in which Burnside threw wave after wave of Union troops at the Army of Northern Virginia on Marye’s Heights. It was a slaughter.
As Pickett’s men neared the Angle on July 3, the Union soldiers, occupying the commanding ground, repeatedly shouted “Fredericksburg, Fredericksburg.”
Lee was right–no friendship is firmer, no memory sharper, no anguish deeper than that which is formed on the fields of fire. It is wonderful and truly terrible at the very same time.
And don’t forget that on that same 4th of July, The Confederate garrison at Vicksburg surrendered to Grant, giving the Union complete control of the Mississippi River and splitting the Confederacy in two.