The battle of gettysburg
a. represented the last time confederate forces seriously threatened union territory.
b. saw union general george meade lose nearly a third of his army.
c. saw union general george meade clearly be more aggressive than robert e. lee.
d. saw robert e. lee poised for victory after his attack on cemetery ridge.
e. was a union victory, to meade having found a copy of lee’s orders.

mount st. helens in washington erupts, causing a massive avalanche and killing 57 people on this day in 1980. ash from the volcanic eruption fell as far away as minnesota. seismic activity at mount st. helens, which is 96 miles south of seattle, began on march 16.

the committees of correspondence were the american colonies’ means for maintaining communication lines in the years before the revolutionary war. in 1764, boston formed the earliest committee of correspondence to encourage opposition to britain’s stiffening of customs enforcement and prohibition of american paper money. the following year, new york formed a similar committee to keep the other colonies notified of its actions in resisting the stamp act. in 1773, the virginia house of burgesses proposed that each colonial legislature appoint a committee for intercolonial correspondence. the exchanges that followed built solidarity during the turbulent times and bring about the formation of the first continental congress in 1774.