On the night of July 2, Meade met with his corps commanders and determined to “stay and fight it out” but remain on the defensive. Lee’s initial plan for July 3 was to order Longstreet and Ewell to attack the Federal left and right at daybreak. However, that morning Longstreet convinced Lee that an attack against the Union left was not feasible. Lee directed that it be made instead against the Union center. It took several hours to prepare this new attack, so it was delayed from daybreak until the afternoon.

Ewell, unaware of the delay, renewed his attack against the XII Corps on Culp’s Hill at daybreak and fought alone for about six hours. Most of the Federals there fired from behind breastworks. They repelled three assaults against their position and drove the Confederates from the lower crest of Culp’s Hill. By noon the battle for Culp’s Hill was over. In the meantime Meade’s troops on Cemetery Hill and Cemetery Ridge remained in their positions and awaited Lee’s next attack.

Stuart and his three cavalry brigades (fewer than 6,000 troopers) had reached the Gettysburg area on the afternoon of July 2. The next morning, at Lee’s order, they rode east beyond Ewell’s position to cover the Confederate left. That afternoon Stuart attempted to move his fatigued force toward the Union rear. About three miles east of Gettysburg, near the Hanover Road, he met US Brigadier General David Gregg’s smaller cavalry force guarding the Federal right. One of the largest cavalry battles of the Civil War opened, with dismounted skirmishing followed by slam-bang mounted charges across the Rummel farm. The Union forces held, and Stuart’s efforts came to naught.

In the meantime Lee and Longstreet prepared the major assault against the Union center on Cemetery Ridge. Longstreet had 12,000 men in eleven brigades, including three fresh ones from CS Major General George E. Pickett’s Division and eight bloodied ones from Hill’s corps, led that day by CS Major General Isaac Trimble and CS Brigadier Generals J. Johnston Pettigrew and Cadmus M. Wilcox.

At 1:00 p.m. the Confederate artillery opened fire with approximately 180 guns, including those of Ewell’s corps. The Union guns replied, shrouding the field in smoke. After two hours the artillery fire ceased. Lee’s assault began with all the brigades except Wilcox’s advancing in two lines on the right and three on the left across open fields toward the Union center on Cemetery Ridge. Union shot and shell began to decimate their formations. Canister and rifle fire riddled the gray ranks after they crossed the Emmitsburg Road, but they closed, and the lines pressed on. Union troops to the right and left swung forward to fire into the assault column’s flanks, boxing it in with fire. A huge mass of men reached the Union line, and a few pushed into the Union position, but by this time formations, firepower, and momentum had been lost. Wilcox’s two brigades advanced unsuccessfully to support the attackers’ right. The Union center, commanded by Hancock, held and gave a bloody repulse to “Pickett’s Charge.” No one knows how many casualties resulted from Pickett’s Charge. The Confederates lost an estimated 5,600 men and the Federals more than 1,500. Losses in the three-day battle were about 23,000 Federals and 28,000 Confederates.

Lee’s try for a decisive victory in Pennsylvania had failed. There were two years of war ahead, but Meade’s army had won a decisive victory. After Gettysburg, Lee was never again able to launch a major offensive. His road from Gettysburg was long, bloody, and hard and ultimately led to Appomattox Court House and surrender.