Are You Hurt Sir? by Mort Kunstler ~ It appeared to be the victory the South was so desperately seeking. General Robert E. Lee and his triumphant Army of Northern Virginia had slipped away from their lines at Fredericksburg, Virginia and had skillfully made a forced march through the Shenandoah Valley, across the Potomac River and into Pennsylvania. There Lee hoped to fight and win a major battle on Northern soil, ending America's bloody Civil War and achieving Southern nationhood. He did not have long to wait. The North's Army of the Potomac, newly commanded by Major General George Gordon Meade, hastily followed Lee's army northward. Lee had 75,000 troops; Meade had about 105,000. The two collided at the Pennsylvania crossroads community of Gettysburg, where they engaged in a three-day contest that would become the largest battle ever fought in North America.

Would Lee be able to win again in Pennsylvania? On July 1, 1863, advance elements of both armies stumbled into each other at Gettysburg, and each side rushed to the battlefield. Lee's army managed to get more men there first, and after a day of fierce fighting east and northeast of town, the Federal line finally broke. Northern troops fell back in disorder through Gettysburg, and re-formed on Cemetery Ridge south of town.

Meanwhile, Lee's triumphant troops advanced into Gettysburg. Still under artillery fire, Confederate Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell led Lee's Second Corps into the town square, accompanied by one of his brigade commanders, Brigadier General John B. Gordon. Both men had barely survived earlier battles: Gordon had been wounded five times at the battle of Antietam, and General Ewell lost his left leg at Second Masassas. Courageous and capable in combat, Ewell was reconnoitering the Federal position at Gettyburg with Gordon, when he was shot in the leg by a Northern sharpshooter. "Are you hurt, Sir?" Gordon asked anxiously. Reassuring him, Ewell explained, "It don't hurt at all to be shot in a wooden leg." Although later saddled with blame for failing to capture Gettysgurg's vitally important Cemetary Hill, Ewell and his corps were greatly responsible for the Confederate victory on the battle's first day. It would be a fleeting triumph, however: The next two days of battle would go against the South. Gettysburg would prove to be a crucial Northern win and the turning point of the Civil War.