derate army, under General Robert E. Lee, numbered about 75,000(Essay). After the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 2 to 4, an important victory for the Confederates, Lee divided his army into three corps (Golay 155), commanded by three lieutenant generals: James Longstreet, Richard Stoddert Ewell, and Ambrose Powell Hill(Lee 289). Lee then formulated a plan for invading Pennsylvania, hoping to avert another federal offensive in Virginia and planning to fight if he could get the federal army into the right position(Military). In pursuit of this plan, Lee crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains, up the Shenandoah Valley, and, through Maryland, entered Pennsylvania. After learning federal troops were north of the Potomac(Essay), Lee decided to concentrate his whole army at Gettysburg(Military).On June 30, Confederate troops from General Hill's corps, on their way to Gettysburg, discovered federal troops that Meade had moved down to intercept the Confederate army. The battle began on July 1 outside of Gettysburg with a fight between Hill's advance brigades and the federal cavalry division commanded by Major General John Buford. Hill encountered tough resistance (Essay), and the fighting was inconclusive until Ewell arrived from the north in the afternoon. The Confederates pushed against General Oliver Howard's corps and forced the federal troops to give up their forward positions to Culp's Hill and Cemetery Ridge, southeast of Gettysburg. The fighting had been heavy on both sides, but the Union troops suffered more losses. More than 4000 men were taken prisoner by the Confederates (Military), and Federal General John Reynolds was killed in battle. The Northerners did manage to capture Confederate General Archer. He was the first Confederate officer to be taken prisoner after Lee assumed command of the Confederate army(Military). The corps, led by Ewell, did not move in to attack the Union troops but waited for General Longstreet to bring in his c...
