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On the second day reinforcements, arrived on both sides, and while the Confederate forces tried flanking the entrenched and heavily defended Union forces, they had limited success. In the first day of fighting the Confederacy won control of much of the area surrounding the town, while the Union held the lands to the south. The armies met near the town of Gettysburg, PA, on the morning of July 1.
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In June, General Lee's forces marched through Virginia, into Pennsylvania, and were pursued by Union forces led by Major General Joseph Hooker, and later Maj. He did this in order to alleviate the pressure on the Virginia farmland, which had been ravaged by the preceding campaigns, and also in an attempt to force the Union into negotiations to end the war. Lee sought to capitalize on his victories earlier in the year, such as the Battle of Chancellorsville, by launching his second invasion of the northern states. The Battle of Gettysburg, at the beginning of July 1963, was the largest and costliest battle of the American Civil War, and is often regarded as the turning point in the war.