Due to the Union's decisive victory, the fight is often evaluated as the war's turning point

It is a fact that due to the Union's decisive victory, the fight is often evaluated as the war's turning point. The nature of the outcome of the Battle of Gettysburg has been a source of contention. Although not viewed as very momentous at the time, especially given that the war had lasted almost two years, it has sometimes been described as a watershed moment in history, generally in conjunction with the fall of Vicksburg the next day. This is based on the observation that Lee's army made no additional strategic offensives after Gettysburg, as well as the Lost Cause writers' speculative belief that a Confederate triumph at Gettysburg would have resulted in the war's end.

It is unarguable that Lee's onslaught on July 3 was forcefully pushed back, and his campaign in Pennsylvania was prematurely ended, while Confederates at the time contended that this was a temporary setback and that the campaign's goals were mostly completed. Gettysburg was dubbed a "strategic disaster for the Confederacy" by David J. Eicher, and James M. McPherson argued that Lee and his soldiers would go on to win more honors. But they never had the power and renown that they brought into Pennsylvania that summer of 1863.