Gettysburg wasnt the only huge victory that day. Just as important, maybe more so to the war effort if not to the morale of the Nation, it is also the day that Vicksburg fell. With the fall of Vicksburg the Confederacy was effectively cut in half and their use of the Mississippi was seriously curtailed when added to the victories at Forts Henry and Donaldson earlier that year. It also led Grant to overall command of the Union armies, east and west, where he led from the front and through victory or defeat kept the pressure on Lee, something Lee was unaccustomed to from past Union Generals.