After a critical win for the confederates in the battle of Chancellorville, Lee decided to take the offensive. He made three divisions in his army; commanded by general James Longstreet, Richard Stoddert Ewell, and Ambrose Powell Hill. Lee devised a plan to attack Pennsylvania. His objectives for the invasion were to potentially retard or avert a federal offensive attack in Virginia, lead the Union Army into a vulnerable position, and create Northern war-weariness which would lead to the North ending the war and recognizing the Confederate States of America as a country.

Meanwhile, the Federal Army in the command of George Gordon Meade, had about 85,000 soldiers and was planning on an offensive attack on Virginia. Lee's 75,000 soldiers crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains, Maryland, and entered Pennsylvania and he decided to use his whole army to attack Gettysburg because the Federal Army was North of him. The war had now marched north.

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