The Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863 is often considered the turning point of the war because:

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Lee's failed invasion of the North ended any realistic Confederate hope of winning the war through offensive action. Gettysburg is considered a turning point because Lee's failed invasion of the North, culminating in the disastrous Pickett's Charge on July 3, 1863, ended any realistic Confederate hope of achieving a decisive military victory on Northern soil. The three-day battle cost the Confederacy approximately 28,000 casualties - losses that Lee's army could never fully replace - and forced a retreat to Virginia from which the Army of Northern Virginia would never again mount a major offensive campaign.

Gettysburg was not the first Union victory; significant Union successes had already occurred at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, New Orleans, and Antietam, among others. Robert E. Lee was not captured at Gettysburg; he successfully retreated to Virginia, and Meade's failure to pursue aggressively frustrated Lincoln greatly. Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863, more than four months after the battle, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery - not during the fighting.

Gettysburg is among the most heavily tested topics on the DSST exam. Combined with the simultaneous Union capture of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863, the twin victories marked the strategic turning point of the war. After Gettysburg, the Confederacy was permanently on the defensive in the Eastern Theater, and the question shifted from whether the Union could win to how long the South could hold out.

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