Existing comment:
1863:
After two years of fighting, the war began to shift in the Union's favor in 1863. Casualties on both sides continued to mount at a staggering rate. The Confederate defeats at Vicksburg and Port Hudson left the Mississippi River entirely in Union hands, at a cost of 19,000 killed and wounded. The three-day Battle of Gettysburg turned back the Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania, while exacting a toll of nearly 50,000 killed, wounded, and missing. |