monument to bravery and sacrifice, and testament to grim consequences of the war between the states, the four year struggle over slavery, pitted north against south, brother against brother. 165,000 soldiers, union and confederate descended on gettysburg. robert e. lee was feeling strong after a series of victories. 72 hours before the battle began, lincoln sacked his gun shy commander, replaced him with george gordon meed. it was designed to bring the war to a swift end after two years fighting on southern soil. the morning of july 1st, confederate infantry comes marching along, john buford s
helicopters. you forgot about that, it s a secret. lets go back to gettysburg. why was that so important that the confederate army comes up into the north? okay. generally it s proving to the world that the confederate rats are going to win this war. he goes in to pennsylvania and as big victory he can head up to harrisburg, take over that capital. anything is possible. he s also looking for support from britain and france. so he s trying to say, look, i m going to win this. but by having people come together in gettysburg, the two armies meet, gettysburg is crossroads, 10 different roads coming together right there in this old market town. because of the important union victory, it turns the war around and ultimately the union army wins. it s amazing watching this footage here. for people who have never been on gettysburg, stand on that ground, devil s den, you can see