Which battle is considered the turning point of the Civil War?

The Battle of Gettysburg is known as the turning point of the Civil War due to its significant impact on the course of the conflict. Fought from July 1 to July 3, 1863, it marked the largest battle ever fought in North America and resulted in a decisive victory for the Union Army under General George G. Meade against the Confederate Army commanded by General Robert E. Lee.

The Union's victory at Gettysburg halted Lee's invasion of the North and inflicted heavy casualties on his forces, weakening their capacity to conduct offensive operations for the remainder of the war. Additionally, the morale boost for the Union following this victory and the subsequent strategic opportunities it presented contributed to changing the momentum of the war in favor of the Union.

In contrast, other battles listed did not carry the same level of strategic significance. For instance, the Battle of Antietam was indeed a pivotal moment—it was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history and led to the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation—but it did not have the same long-term strategic turning point effect as Gettysburg did. The battles of Bull Run and Fort Sumter, while important in their own right, did not represent shifts in the overall trajectory of the war comparable