<P> The Gettysburg Campaign was a military invasion of Pennsylvania by the main Confederate army under General Robert E. Lee in summer 1863 . The Union won a decisive victory at Gettysburg July 1 -- 3 , with heavy casualties on both sides . Lee managed to escape back to Virginia with most of his army . It was a turning point in the American Civil War , with Lee increasingly pushed back toward Richmond until his surrender in April 1865 . After his victory in the Battle of Chancellorsville , Lee 's Army of Northern Virginia moved north for a massive raid designed to obtain desperately needed supplies , to undermine civilian morale in the North , and to encourage anti-war elements . The Union Army of the Potomac was commanded by Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker and then ( from June 28 ) by Maj. Gen. George G. Meade . </P>
<P> The Gettysburg Campaign was a military invasion of Pennsylvania by the main Confederate army under General Robert E. Lee in summer 1863 . The Union won a decisive victory at Gettysburg July 1 -- 3 , with heavy casualties on both sides . Lee managed to escape back to Virginia with most of his army . It was a turning point in the American Civil War , with Lee increasingly pushed back toward Richmond until his surrender in April 1865 . After his victory in the Battle of Chancellorsville , Lee 's Army of Northern Virginia moved north for a massive raid designed to obtain desperately needed supplies , to undermine civilian morale in the North , and to encourage anti-war elements . The Union Army of the Potomac was commanded by Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker and then ( from June 28 ) by Maj. Gen. George G. Meade . </P>
what general led the confederate army into pennsylvania
what general led the confederate army into pennsylvania
Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee