turning point of the war

Historians refer to the battle of Gettysburg as the true “turning point” of the civil war. This battle followed the Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia, in May 1863.  It all began when Robert E. Lee led his Army of Northern Virginia in its second invasion of the North—the Gettysburg Campaign.   Similarly to what happened at the battle of Antietam, the south had won a series of victories and lee was determined to bring the war to northern territory. The confederates hoped that a victory on northern ground would cause them to give up and realize that they were not going to be able to keep the south in the union. After three days of heavy losses for lees outnumbered army, the southern army retreated back to Virginia. Combined with the U.S victories in the western theater that were occurring at the same time, the south was demoralized. Never again did the south invade the north. Kind of like when your little siblings come into your room and touch your stuff, you scream at them and push them and tell on them, they never do it again. it was this battle that inspired Lincoln to write one of him most famous speeches, the Gettysburg address. the speech displayed a rationale for the war and a purpose for why so many men made the decision to fight on the unions side and sacrifice their lives. 

http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/gettysburg.html?tab=facts