10 Battle of Gettysburg Facts for Kids

The Battle of Gettysburg is one of the most famous battles of the civil war. It was fought in Gettysburg Pennsylvania on July 1 1863. It was one of the most deadly battles of the civil war with the highest number of casualties. It lasted only 3 days but was fought viciously by both union soldiers and the confederate army.

1. The union soldiers were created with the win but according to the number of casualties that both sides had suffered there was no winner of this battle. There were around 23,186 Union losses and 31,621 Confederate soldiers that lost their life in this war.

2. There was estimated to be 72,000 horses present. There were over 5000 horses and mules that perished in the battle.

3. The battle was actually fought in several different towns. At the end of the battle every building including schools, private homes, churches and saloons were used to house the injured.

4. Limbs were amputated without any anesthetic. The injuries were horrific. The dead were left to the union soldiers to bury because they held the battle field. Many of the commanders allowed the soldiers that were charged with the task of cleaning up the bodies to drink hard liquor before they started the task.

5. Information was slow coming out of the battle field and families clamored for news about the injured and the dead. It was estimated that 1 out of every 4 soldiers died on the battle field and of the 3 that was left out of the 42 were seriously wounded. That means that only 1 out of every 4 soldiers survived the battle without mortal wounds.

6. The wagon train that took the injured confederate soldiers back to Virginia was 17 miles long.

7. There were 120 Generals at the battle. After the battle ended 40000 rifles were collected with over 20000 still loaded. Right before the battle began General Lee had a heart attack.

8. There is a long held rumor that the battle started because Confederate soldiers moved into Gettysburg looking for shoes but there is no reason to believe that Gettysburg had any more appeal than any other place for the procurement of shoes.

9. The confederate soldiers were ill equipped to fight the battle. They were outnumbered on the battle field had less artillery available and were in poor physical health.

10. Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg address was a short 2 minute speech.