<P> Bruce Catton, Glory Road </P> <P> It is currently a widely held view that Gettysburg was a decisive victory for the Union, but the term is considered imprecise . It is inarguable that Lee's offensive on July 3 was turned back decisively and his campaign in Pennsylvania was terminated prematurely (although the Confederates at the time argued that this was a temporary setback and that the goals of the campaign were largely met). However, when the more common definition of "decisive victory" is intended--an indisputable military victory of a battle that determines or significantly influences the ultimate result of a conflict--historians are divided . For example, David J. Eicher called Gettysburg a "strategic loss for the Confederacy" and James M. McPherson wrote that "Lee and his men would go on to earn further laurels . But they never again possessed the power and reputation they carried into Pennsylvania those palmy summer days of 1863 ." </P> <P> However, Herman Hattaway and Archer Jones wrote that the "strategic impact of the Battle of Gettysburg was...fairly limited ." Steven E. Woodworth wrote that "Gettysburg proved only the near impossibility of decisive action in the Eastern theater ." Edwin Coddington pointed out the heavy toll on the Army of the Potomac and that "after the battle Meade no longer possessed a truly effective instrument for the accomplishments of his task . The army needed a thorough reorganization with new commanders and fresh troops, but these changes were not made until Grant appeared on the scene in March 1864 ." Joseph T. Glatthaar wrote that "Lost opportunities and near successes plagued the Army of Northern Virginia during its Northern invasion," yet after Gettysburg, "without the distractions of duty as an invading force, without the breakdown of discipline, the Army of Northern Virginia (remained) an extremely formidable force ." Ed Bearss wrote, "Lee's invasion of the North had been a costly failure . Nevertheless, at best the Army of the Potomac had simply preserved the strategic stalemate in the Eastern Theater ..." Furthermore, the Confederacy soon proved it was still capable of winning significant victories over the Northern forces in both the East (Battle of Cold Harbor) and West (Battle of Chickamauga). </P> <P> Peter Carmichael refers to the military context for the armies, the "horrendous losses at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, which effectively destroyed Lee's offensive capacity," implying that these cumulative losses were not the result of a single battle . Thomas Goss, writing in the U.S. Army's Military Review journal on the definition of "decisive" and the application of that description to Gettysburg, concludes: "For all that was decided and accomplished, the Battle of Gettysburg fails to earn the label' decisive battle' ." The military historian John Keegan agrees . Gettysburg was a landmark battle, the largest of the war and it would not be surpassed . The Union had restored to it the belief in certain victory, and the loss dispirited the Confederacy . If "not exactly a decisive battle", Gettysburg was the end of Confederate use of Northern Virginia as a military buffer zone, the setting for Grant's Overland Campaign . </P>

Why was the battle of gettysburg such an important northern victory