The Killer Angels Question 2?

Question

Before July, 1863, Gettysburg was just another anonymous town in southern Pennsylvania. Explain how the "lay of the land" turned Gettysburg into an historic battlefield.

Answer 1

First, the battle was fought here because a Confederate unit was looking for shoes in a Gettysburg factory.

They then lined up, at first, along Cemetery Ridge, then along Seminary Ridge. The Union forces lined up along a ridge below Little Round Top and along a road into Gettysburg.

The geography was a series of ridges and they could provide defense or an excellent place to mount an assault depending on how they were used.

Also, Gettysburg is located NW of Washington DC and could have been an opening to the nations capital, had the Confederates won here.