The Battle of Gettysburg ended 155 years ago today — here's how it was fought

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The three-day Battle of Gettysburg, the bloodiest battle of the Civil War and one that tipped the scales in favor of the Union, ended 155 years ago on Tuesday.

The Union fielded 90,000 troops in the battle, and the Confederacy 75,000, according to historian James McPherson. Eleven thousand died, 29,000 more were wounded, and 10,000 were missing or captured.

The hallowed grounds of Gettysburg, as McPherson described them, witnessed nearly 10 times as many casualties as the D-Day invasion in World War II.

There were many engagements over three days of combat — such as Devil's Den, the Slaughter Pen, and the Valley of Death — but some were more consequential to the battle, and therefore the war itself, than others.

Here's how the battle unfolded.

Here is a shot of Gettysburg from Cemetery Hill, which was taken in July 1863. The battle started, some historians say, because both armies were looking for shoes in the town. McPherson says this story cannot be proved or disproved, but whatever the case, it was a "meeting engagement" or "encounter engagement."

Library of Congress

The first day of the Battle of Gettysburg was a skirmish compared with the last two days, as troops from both sides were still filing into the area. Still, as night fell, "three thousand dead and dying soldiers and the moans of many of the additional seven or eight thousand wounded" could be seen and heard on the field, McPherson said. Below is a photo of dead Union soldiers after the first day's fighting.

Library of Congress

Though the Confederates had not captured the Cemetery and Culp's hills by the end of the day, the prospect of the battle still appeared promising for Robert E. Lee and the Rebel army.

John L. Burns, who is pictured below, is one of the more colorful people to take part in the battle. On the first day of the battle, the 69-year-old Gettysburg resident grabbed his musket and joined the Union ranks, much to the confusion of the Northern officers, when he saw the battle materializing.

Library of Congress

He was deployed to the woods and picked off numerous Confederate troops before getting shot in an arm and a leg. When the Confederates found him wounded and wearing civilian clothes, after the Union soldiers had retreated from the area, he told them he was just a lost old man who had gotten caught in the cross fire. This picture, by famed Civil War photographer Mathew Brady, was taken shortly after the battle.

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