Brasseagle Studios

This range of figures will focus on the battle around Gettysburg in July, 1863

Lee had taken his men north - over the mountains and into Pennsylvania

There they could collect food and clothing, recuperate a little, and begin the process of finding and defeating the Union Army

Though saddened by the death of Thomas Jackson, he and his men had recent inspiration from the battles they had fought - pride swelled the chests of his ragged troops, and he was confident that the actions he hoped for in the rear of the Union Army would lead to overtures of peace

 He lacked vital intelligence, however

Stuart had left Lee's army virtually blind, and Lee had to rely on newspaper reports, word of mouth from sympathetic locals, and on the intelligence of undercover agents to find out where the elements of the Union forces were

Nevertheless, he and his staff were wary, but fairly certain that they were undetected, until they met with general John Buford, and he would find out his mistake at a town called Gettysburg

The Battle of Gettysburg was a battle which, if it had not ended as it did, could have altered our current view of the world; a battle, the aftermath of which gave us this timeless and time-honoured piece of prose

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation,or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure

We are met on a great battlefield of that war

We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live

It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground

The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom— and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.