A REMARKABLE battle. So many wrongs ~ but any Monday morning QB can tell you that ~ hindsight is 20/20. I guess I never really appreciated the significance, until I was there ~ in the actual location. What an amazing feeling. I urge anyone who has never been there to see Little Big Top and Picketts Charge ~ go there!

Represents the last time the South made a serious venture into the North. . .also memorable due to an incredible mistake by the (usually) visionary General Lee. . .but the battle does represent a serious loss for the South that was the (albeit slow) beginning of the end of the war. . .

The south could easily have won this battle, if not for some bad planning and bad communication, none of which would have happened had Stonewall Jackson not been killed. But, in my opinion, Gettysburg was not THE pivotal battle of the war, as it is often portrayed. Lee's hope here was that a victory on northern soil would force lincoln to the negotiating table. If that failed, he hoped that England, France, or both would come to the aid of the CSA. I don't think either of these were realistic goals, particularly since this battle came after the Emancipation Proclamation. Additionally, the CSA had already lost the west, Vicksburg, and most of Tennessee. Lee acted foolishly, and I don't think the outcome would have been very different, even if the south had won this battle. In other words, the tide had already turned.

Response to Virile: 1) The Confederate high water mark was in 1862. By the summer of 1863, southern supplies were wearing thin and they had lost control of approximately 1/2 of their territory. 2) Since Stonewall Jackson was killed before this battle, no one will ever know with certainty whether or not hs presence would have changed the outcome. One thing historians agree on however, Jackson most certainly would have taken Cemetary Hill. This is where Ewell froze and failed to act. This position was virtually unoccupied by federal troops and commanded the town. Thousands of Confederates were massacred the following day trying to take the position, after Ewell let Union troops fortify there. That is why I posted what I did about Jackson in the original comment.

While Gettysburg (Jul 1-3, 1863) was clearly decisive (i.e. five stars) in the outcome of the American Civil War, I can't agree that the battle was the ultimate turning point (as others have also stated in prior comments) though it was the Confederate high tide. I say this because Lee would continue his defensive strategy successfully, which had a legitimate chance of causing Lincoln to lose the 1864 election in favor of someone more inclined to negotiate. I won't concur that Stonewall Jackson's presence would have change the outcome of the battle, given that Lee would have likely been just as aggressive notwithstanding the then counsel of his other trusted generals.

The mother of all Civil War battles. Richard Ewell (I argue) lost the battle when he thought "impracticle" taking the high ground from the left on the first day; something he most probably would have accomlished. General Sickles almost defeated the union triumph on the second advancing into Peach Orchard leaving the Round Tops unprotected. The Alabamian regimen led by Colonal Oates nearly won the day attempting to take Little Round Top but was twarted by General K Warren and his Maine reinforcements lead by Colonel Joshua Chamberlin who held of the confederates in a final charge with no ammunition. The final day was marked by tragic defeat for the confederates. Failing to have taken the Round Tops Lee order Longstreet to have Pickett change the center of Cemetary Ridge with 13000 men to distastrous effects. This battle changed the face of the war and American History.

So many good reviews are posted here that I can add little except to state that Pickett's Charge was the price that the South had to pay for the service's of Robert E. Lee. Lee was riding a flood tide of success from his battles since Antietam in 1862.

He probably became infected with the terrible vice of hubris and a feeling of invincibility. He had pulled so many miracles the previous months that he thought he could do it again. Well, flesh and blood can only do so much and the odds finally caught up with him.

The high water mark of the Confederacy, Gettysburg was the battle that changed the course of the war.

After it, the Army of Northern Virginia was unable to mount an offensive threat, and was limited to an ultimately futile defensive role, sustained by the courage of its men and the skill of its commander.

Lee is often castigated for ordering Pickett to charge the center of the Union line, thereby losing the battle. While he deserves criticism (and in fact was very critical of himself for the decision) the opportunity to beat the Union actually was lost on the second day of the battle.

Lee refused to allow Longstreet to move further to the Union left in a flanking action, and Longstreet himself delayed the attack due to some ineffective countermarching.

Oh how I wish Stonewall Jackson could have been there instead of Richard Ewell and A.P. Hill. Gettysburg was probably the most important battle in the Civil War. As everyone has said below it did turn the tide of the war, along with Vicksburg, to favor the union. Why Lee orderd that fateful charge on July 3, 1863 has been debated by many historians, most point to the fact that he had lead his troops to two consecutive victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, therefore Lee felt he and his army were invincible and he let his pride take over. Plus Stonewall was gone, the right arm of Lee.

As for if Lee would have won this battle, I think it would have come down to how much of the union army was destroyed and if Lee would have been able to march on Washington and capture it. These are not likely, but it is interesting to think what would have happened if Lee would have won.

This was the high tide, the point where the loyalty of Lee's army could not overcome the superior firepower, manpower, and industrialization of the North. The lost cause was lost that day...