Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in Intruder in the Dust (Location)

Gettysburg is the site of the largest battle ever fought on American soil, between Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac, commanded at that time by George Meade. During its three days of fighting, July 1-3, 1863, almost fifty thousand men were killed, wounded or captured. The moment that the narrative says is fixed in "every Southern boy's" memory (190) is right before General George Pickett led a disastrous Confederate attack against the center of the Union line on the battle's final day; Pickett's charge is often referred to as the high water mark of the Confederacy, the event after which the South's eventual defeat became almost inevitable.