This battle was the turning point in the civil war. The North and the South up until that point had had every victory checked by a defeat and no distinct advantage strategy wise, but after Gettysburg this would change. Lee's army would limp back into Virginia with more then 33% casualties, never to fight a battle in Northern territory again. The Federal army, although bruised and bloodied from the long battle, had won something greater then a piece of blood-soaked land. First off, it had booted Lee out of union territory and sent him home sporting an army that had had more then a third of its soldiers killed or wounded. Secondly, it had shown the world that Lee's invincible army was not invincible after all. Gettysburg was truly, as it is often reffered to as, "the highwater mark", for the confederacy.
