Part one of term paper
Gettysburg was the Army of the Potomac's only great victory on the battlefield. Antietam, certainly a strategic victory, showed Robert E. Lee's unstoppable killing machine was indeed stoppable. And the Army of the Potomac did eventually force Lee's Army of Northern Virginia from its impregnable Petersburg trenches. But Lee's surrender at Appo ...

Part two of term paper
... momentous battlefield win onto their belt, they were, of course, on the winning side in lesser battles that did not significantly impact either the tactical or strategic situations. Malvern Hill, the last major action of the Seven Days campaign where Confederate forces were severely and boldly repulsed, is one such example. When analyzing Gettysburg it has become commonplace to ask why Lee and his army failed to win a great victory. Fewer people look to the other side of the equation and ask w ...