The history of the Battle of Gettysburg in 4 minutes

The Battle of Gettysburg is arguably one of the most important of the American Civil War. It was this battle that marked the end of Confederate attempts to take the offensive. Although there were many important battles throughout the bloody war, such as the Battle of Antietam, Gettysburg's importance cannot be over-emphasized.

The Battle of Gettysburg was immense. As the Civil War Trust notes, over 165,000 troops engaged in combat across both sides. There was a total of 51,112 casualties (7,058 killed, 33,264 wounded, and 10,790 missing or captured). The Gettysburg National Military Park spans almost 4,000 acres — and the battle likely raged far further than the park grounds.

Even Hollywood couldn't cover it all. The 1993 film, Gettysburg, backed by an all-star cast (Sam Elliot, Martin Sheen, Tom Berenger, and Jeff Daniels among them), ran for four hours and 14 minutes in theaters. The director's cut added another 17 minutes. Even with more than four and a half hours to tell the tale, they still couldn't cover the entire battle — omitting cavalry actions east of the main battle and the fighting around Culp's Hill.

If you've got the time to kill, it's not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon/evening, but we know many of you places to go and things to do. Thankfully, the Civil War Trust has the CliffsNotes version.

The four-minute video below briefly covers the highlights of this crucial Civil War battle, covering everything from the first day's holding action by Buford's cavalry division to Chamberlain's stand at Little Round Top on the second day. And, of course, you can't cover the Battle of Gettysburg without discussing the "high tide" of the Confederacy, Pickett's Charge, on the third and final day of the battle.