The Great Republic by the Master Historians Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg byBancroft, Hubert H.
[The stirring and important events which marked the prosecution of the war in
the West during the year 1863 were matched by equally important ones in the
East. Three great battles were fought, one in the closing days of 1862, and the
others in the following year, of which the last, that of Gettysburg, was in
certain respects the greatest battle of the war, and has been generally accepted
as the turning-point, from which the fortunes of the Confederacy began to flow
rapidly downward. We select, therefore, a detailed description of the closing
scene of this great conflict, preceding our selection with a review of the
events that succeeded the battle of Antietam.
It was on September 19 that Lee crossed the Potomac and retired into Virginia,
after that battle. November arrived ere McClellan was ready to follow him.
Meanwhile, the impatience of the authorities at McClellan's lack of activity had
grown extreme, and on the 7th of November he was removed, and the command of the
army given to General Burnside. The events that succeeded gave no encouraging
warrant for this change of commanders. Feeling that he must do something at once
to satisfy the government and the country, Burnside moved upon Fredericksburg,
with the intention of occupying that town. His pontoon-bridges, however, were
not ready, and he delayed crossing the Rappahannock so long while waiting for
them that Lee had time to seize and fortify the heights back of the town and
move his whole army to that situation. It was the night of December 10 before
the crossing was attempted. Two bridges were laid, in front of and below the
town. The march over the first proved difficult and sanguinary, on account of
sharp-shooters concealed in the houses of the town. But during the day a
crossing was effected at both points, and the army massed for an assault on the
heights, which were strongly fortified, and guarded by an army of eighty
thousand men.
The assault took place on the morning of the 13th, and was repulsed at every
point with dreadful slaughter. The principal attack was made from the town, on
the difficult position of Mary's Heights. It proved a murderous and futile
effort, the assailants being mowed down in myriads and forced to retire in
complete discomfiture. Charge after charge was made, but all with the same
result. The Union losses during that fatal day are given by Draper at thirteen
thousand seven hundred and seventy-one; those of the Confederates at five
thousand three hundred and nine. Burnside intended to renew the struggle the
next morning, but his leading officers were so strongly opposed to this that he
withdrew the order, and on the night of the 15th evacuated the town and
recrossed the river. Another movement was essayed by Burnside early in 1863. It
was intended to cross the river at a point beyond the range of the Confederate
works; but an unlooked-for thaw reduced the roads to quagmires, through which it
proved impossible to move the trains and artillery, and the expedition had to be
abandoned. Shortly afterwards General Hooker was appointed to replace Burnside
in command of the Army of the Potomac.
With the opening spring Hooker attempted a flank movement on the Confederates,
which resulted as disastrously as had Burnside's direct assault. He divided his
army, leaving the left wing, under Sedgwick, to threaten Fredericksburg, while
the main body of the army crossed the river some distance above the city, and
marched into a wild district known as Chancellorsville, a country overgrown with
a wilderness of thicket. Lee's army was considerably outnumbered, but he managed
his forces with such skill as to defeat and almost disorganize his confident
opponents. Leaving a small force to guard the heights at Fredericksburg, he
marched towards Chancellorsville on the 29th of April. On the 1st of May, Hooker
ordered an advance towards Fredericksburg. A flank attack was arranged by Lee,
which proved remarkably successful. Jackson led the flanking column through the
difficult country known as the Wilderness, and late on May 2 he made so sudden
and furious a charge on Hooker's right that it was broken and driven back in
confusion. Jackson was mortally wounded in this assault,--a serious loss to the
Confederate army.
On the 3d the battle recommenced, and Hooker was severely pressed at all points.
Meanwhile, Sedgwick had crossed at Fredericksburg, taken Marye's Heights, and
was marching to join Hooker. Lee sent a strong force to meet him, and drove him
back to the river, which Sedgwick recrossed on the night of May 4. This repulse
ended the conflict. Hooker felt it necessary to retreat, and on the night of May
5, during a severe storm of wind and rain, the pontoons were laid and the whole
army marched back to the northern side of the Rappahannock. The losses were
heavy on both sides, though the Union forces suffered the most severely. With
this battle ended the offensive efforts of the Army of the Potomac for that
period. Its skilful antagonist immediately afterwards assumed the offensive, and
threw his opponents into an attitude of defence, in which they much better
proved their ability to cope with him.
Suddenly breaking camp, Lee began a rapid march northward, handling his troops
so skilfully as to leave his antagonist in great doubt as to his intentions.
Hooker moved north, disposing his army to cover Washington, and endeavoring to
penetrate the designs of the force that was concealed behind the Blue Ridge.
Ewell, in the advanced, marched hastily up the Valley, and surprised General
Milroy at Winchester, defeating him, and capturing the bulk of his army,
artillery, and trains. Lee's whole army was across the Potomac before his
purpose was divined. He crossed at Shepherdstown on the 24th of June, and
advanced with all speed into Pennsylvania, massing his army at Chambersburg on
June 27. Ewell had occupied this place several days before. An advance on
Harrisburg seemed contemplated, and part of the army reached and occupied York,
but information that the Union army was rapidly approaching necessitated a
change of plan, and a movement of concentration upon Gettysburg began. Lee's
cavalry, under Stuart, had meanwhile moved so far to the eastward as to be
intercepted by the Union advance, and their services were lost during the
subsequent events.
Meanwhile, Hooker had discovered the purpose of the enemy, and began a march
north which was prosecuted with the utmost speed. A general alarm pervaded the
North, and the militia were called out in all directions. Yet the only safe
reliance lay in the Army of the Potomac, which was making a strenuous effort to
meet and check its opponent. On the 28th of June, Hooker, dissatisfied with the
orders from Halleck at Washington, offered his resignation, and was replaced by
General Meade, an officer previously known as an able and efficient corps-
commander. He continued the rapid march northward, his advance reaching
Gettysburg on July 1.
The advance, consisting of Buford's cavalry, numbering about four thousand men,
first came into collision with the enemy, about a mile beyond the town.
Dismounted, and acting as infantry, these men held their ground with great
pertinacity against the steadily-increasing Confederate force. Reynolds, who led
the Union advance, pushed forward his division to the support of Buford, and a
hot battle ensued. Reynolds was killed, and after several hours of battle the
Union line was forced to give way before the superior numbers and the impetuous
charges of their foe. The conflict ended in a retreat to Cemetery Ridge, a range
of low hills extending westerly and southerly from the town, and ending in a
prominent and rugged elevation called Round Top. Meade, whose army was now
rapidly coming up, decided to make this ridge his defensive position; while
Lee's army, as it arrived, was stationed on the less elevated Seminary Ridge,
somewhat over a mile distant from the ground occupied by the Union army. In this
struggle for positions Meade had gained the advantage, having much the stronger
ground.
Lee's advance was definitely checked. He must either retreat, or brush away the
army in front of him and uncover the North by its defeat. He decided on
attempting the latter. On the 2d of July an assault in force took place, Ewell
moving against Meade's right and Longstreet against his left wing. The first
movement proved of secondary interest, the main conflict of the day being that
between Longstreet's and Sickles's corps.
Apparently by a misconception of Meade's instructions, Sickles had advanced his
corps beyond the line of Cemetery Ridge, which at this point was quite low, and
occupied the high ground along which runs the Emmettsburg road, some four or
five hundred yards in advance. Though this position was in certain respects
advantageous, it had the important defect that the left flank was exposed, and
had to be bent back at an angle through low ground towards Round Top. This angle
occupied a peach orchard, which became the main point of the Confederate attack.
It was late in the day when the Confederate force under Longstreet advanced to
the assault. His right, under Hood, fell upon that portion of Sickles's corps
between the peach orchard and Round Top. A gap had been left between the left
flank and this elevation, and through this opening the right of Hood's line
thrust itself unperceived, and advanced on Little Round Top, a rocky spur of the
loftier hill above named. This movement placed Meade's army in great jeopardy.
Little Round Top was at that moment quite unoccupied, and if captured by the
Confederates the entire Union line would have been taken in reverse.
Fortunately, General Warren discovered the critical situation of affairs in time
to avert the danger. He hurried a brigade to the summit, brought a battery to
the same point, and was just in time to repulse Hood's Texans, who were
advancing eagerly to seize the hill. A desperate struggle ensued, the bayonet
being used when the ammunition was exhausted. The position was secured, but not
without much loss of life.
The heaviest pressure of the Confederate attack fell upon the salient angle in
Sickle's line at the peach orchard. This position was stubbornly defended, but
was at length carried by the impetuous assaults of Longstreet's men. Its capture
quickly exposed the faulty character of the Union line. The enemy had burst
through its central key-point, and was at liberty to assail the disrupted forces
to right and left. One of the most desperate conflicts of the war ensued. The
exposed lines were gradually withdrawn, while other brigades and divisions were
hurried to the front, and a confused succession of advances and retreats took
place, in which many valuable officers lost their lives, and the ground was
strewn with multitudes of the dead and dying. General Sickles himself was
severely wounded, losing a leg. Finally the Union line reached the position it
had been originally intended to occupy, along the crest of Cemetery Ridge. The
efforts of the enemy to break the line continued, but they had lost so heavily
during their advance, and were so exhausted by their efforts, that their final
sallies were easily repelled. Though Longstreet's success had been considerable,
it was in no sense decisive. No point of Cemetery Ridge had been taken. About
dusk Hancock ordered a counter-charge, before which the enemy easily yielded. On
the left six regiments of the Pennsylvania Reserves, led by General Crawford,
advanced on the enemy in front of Little Round Top, drove them from a stone wall
which they had occupied, and to the woods beyond the wheat-field in front.
During the night the opposite margins of this field were held by the combatants.
Ewell's attack on the Union right had been somewhat more successful. Johnson's
division had gained a foothold within the Union lines which it held during the
night. It was intended by Lee to make this position, in the next day's battle,
the basis of an assault in force on the right wing of the Union army, while the
left should be simultaneously assailed. But this project was seriously deranged
by Meade's promptness of action. Early on the morning of the 3d a strong attack
was made on Johnson before reinforcements could reach him, and he was driven out
of the works he had occupied. The Union lines at that point were re-formed.
Lee's plan of action was now changed, and an assault ordered against the Union
centre. Pickett's division of Virginians was selected to make this desperate
charge, one destined to become famous in the annals of war. In preparation for
the assault the great bulk of the Confederate artillery was massed in front of
the selected point of attack, and the most terrible artillery-fire of the whole
war opened upon the Union intrenchments. Meade had massed a smaller number of
guns to reply. The story of the grand charge that succeeded, and of its
disastrous repulse, we give in the words of the Comte de Paris, from the
translated edition of his "History of the Civil War in America," published by
Messrs. Porter & Coates, of Philadelphia.]
It is now the hottest time of day; a strange silence reigns over the battle-
field, causing the Federal soldiers, worn out with fatigue, to look upon the
impending general attack, which they have anticipated since early dawn, as
extremely long in coming. . . . Longstreet learns at last that everything is
ready; his orders are awaited to open the fire which is to precede the assault.
. . . Much time has been lost, for it is already one o'clock in the after-noon.
Two cannon-shots fired on the right by the Washington Artillery at intervals of
one minute suddenly break the silence which was prevailing over the battle-
field. It means, "Be on your guard!" which is well understood by both armies.
The solitary smoke of these shots has not yet been dispersed when the whole
Confederate line is one blaze. . . . One hundred and thirty-eight pieces of
cannon obey Longstreet's signal. The Federals are not at all surprised at this
abrupt prelude: they have had time to recover from the shock of the previous
day, and have made good use of it. . . . [They] have eighty pieces of artillery
to reply to the enemy. In conformity with Hunt's orders, they wait a quarter of
an hour before replying, in order to take a survey of the batteries upon which
they will have to concentrate their fire. They occupy positions affording better
shelter than those of the Confederates, but the formation of their line gives
the latter the advantage of a concentric fire.
More than two hundred guns are thus engaged in this artillery combat, the most
terrible the New World has ever witnessed. The Confederates fire volleys from
all the batteries at once, whose shots, directed towards the same point, produce
more effect than successive firing. On the previous day their projectiles passed
over the enemy; they have rectified the elevation of their pieces, and readily
obtain a precision of aim unusual to them. The plateau occupied by the Federals
forms a slight depression of the ground in the centre, which hides their
movements, but affords them no protection from the enemy's fire; the shells
burst in the midst of the reserve batteries, supply-trains, and ambulances; the
houses are tottering and tumbling down; the head-quarters of General Meade are
riddled with balls, and Butterfield, his chief of staff, is slightly wounded. In
every direction may be seen men seeking shelter behind the slightest elevations
of the ground. Nothing is heard but the roar of cannon and the whistling of
projectiles that are piercing the air. A still larger crowd of stragglers,
wounded, and non-combatants than that of the day before is again making for the
Baltimore turnpike with rapid haste.
[This murderous fire causes considerable loss on both sides. Kemper's
(Confederate) brigade in a few minutes loses more than two hundred men. The
Confederate ammunition is running short, while the hope to silence the Federal
guns has as yet proved unfounded. But at length the Federals cease firing, and
Pickett makes ready for the desperate charge to which this hot artillery duel is
preliminary.]
He is informed--what he might have found out for himself in spite of the roaring
of the Confederate cannon--that the enemy's guns scarcely make any reply. The
Federal artillery appears to be silenced from the lack of ammunition. The
opportunity so long waited for has therefore at last arrived,--a mistake which
the assailants will soon find out to their sorrow. In fact, about a quarter-past
two o'clock, Meade, believing that enough ammunition has been expended, and
wishing to provoke the attack of the enemy, orders the firing to cease; Hunt,
who is watching the battle-field in another direction, issues the same order at
the same moment, and causes two fresh batteries, taken from the reserve in the
rear of Hancock's line, to advance. For a while the voice of the Confederate
cannon is alone heard.
But new actors are preparing to appear on the scene. Pickett has caused the
object of the charge they are about to execute to be explained to his soldiers.
As the ranks are re-forming, many of them can no longer rise; the ground is
strewn with the dead, the wounded, and others that are suffering from the heat,
for a burning sun, still more scorching than that of the day before, lights up
this bloody battle-field. But all able-bodied men are at their posts, and an
affecting scene soon elicits a cry of admiration from both enemies and friends.
Full of ardor, as if it were rushing to the assault of the Washington Capitol
itself, and yet marching with measured steps, so as not to break its alignment,
Pickett's division moves forward solidly and quietly in magnificent order.
Garnett, in the centre, sweeping through the artillery-line, leaves Wilcox
behind him, whose men, lying flat upon the ground, are waiting for another order
to support the attack. Kemper is on the right; Armistead is moving forward at
double-quick to place himself on the left along the line of the other two
brigades; a swarm of skirmishers covers the front of the division. The smoke has
disappeared, and this small band perceives at last the long line of the Federal
positions, which the hollow in the ground where they had sought shelter had,
until then, hidden from its view. It moves forward full of confidence, convinced
that a single effort will pierce this line, which is already wavering, and
feeling certain that this effort will be sustained by the rest of the army.
Taking its loss into consideration, it numbers no more than four thousand five
hundred men at the utmost, but the auxiliary forces of Pettigrew, Trimble, and
Wilcox raise the number of assailants to fourteen thousand. If they are all put
in motion in time, and well led against a particular portion of the Federal
line, their effort may triumph over every obstacle and decide the fate of the
battle. Marching in the direction of the salient position occupied by Hancock,
which Lee has given him as the objective point, Pickett, after passing beyond
the front of Wilcox, causes each of his brigades to make a half-wheel to the
left. This manoeuvre, though well executed, is attended with serious
difficulties, for the division, drawn up en echelon across the Emmettsburg road,
presents its right flank to the Federals to such an extent that the latter
mistake the three echelons for three successive lines.
The moment has arrived for the Federal artillery to commence firing. McGilvery
concentrates the fire of his forty pieces against the assailants, the Federals
even attributing the change in Pickett's direction to this fire,--a wrong
conclusion, for it is when he exposes his flanks that the enemy's shots cause
the greatest ravages in his ranks. If the thirty-four pieces of Hazard bearing
upon the salient position could follow McGilvery's example, this artillery,
which Pickett thought to be paralyzed, would suffice to crush him. But, by order
of his immediate chief, Hazard has fired oftener and in quicker succession than
Hunt had directed, and at the decisive moment he has nothing left in his
caissons but grape-shot. He is therefore compelled to wait till the enemy is
within short range. Pickett, encouraged by his silence, crosses several fields
enclosed by strong fences, which his skirmishers had not been able to reach
before the cannonade; then, having reached the base of the elevation he is to
attack, he once more changes his direction by a half-wheel to the right, halting
to rectify his line.
The Confederate artillery is endeavoring to support him, but is counting its
shots, for it is obliged to be sparing of its ammunition: the seven light pieces
intended to accompany the infantry, being wanted elsewhere, fail to appear at
the very moment when they should push forward, and no other battery with
sufficient supplies can be found to take their place.
But, what is still more serious, orders do not seem to have been clearly given
to the troops that are to sustain Pickett. On the left Pettigrew has put his men
in motion at the first order, but, being posted in the rear of Pickett, he has a
wider space of ground to go over, and naturally finds himself distanced;
moreover, his soldiers have not yet recovered from the combat of the previous
day: from the start their ranks are seen wavering, and they do not advance with
the same ardor as those of Pickett. . Presently these troops, through their
imposing appearance, attract a portion of the enemy's attention and fire, and at
a distance of two hundred and fifty yards they stop to reply with volleys of
musketry. On the right Wilcox has remained inactive a considerable time, being
probably detained by a diversity of opinion among the chieftains regarding the
role that is assigned respectively to them. . Finally, in pursuance of an order
from Pickett at the moment when the latter has halted in the vicinity of the
Codori house, Wilcox pushes the brigade forward in a column of deployed
battalions. In order to get sooner into line, and thus draw a portion of the
enemy's fire, he marches directly on. He cannot, however, recover the distance
that separates him from the leading assailants, the latter having disappeared in
a hollow; then, becoming enveloped in smoke, he loses sight of them, and,
following alone his direction to the right, does not succeed in covering their
flank.
In the mean while, Pickett, causing his skirmishers to fall back, has again put
his troops in motion, without waiting for his echelons to get completely into
line: the artillery and infantry posted along the ridge he is to capture open a
terrific fire of grape and musketry against him at a distance of two hundred
yards, while the shot and shell of McGilvery take his line again in flank,
causing frightful gaps in its ranks, killing at times as many as ten men by a
single shot.
[The Federal position was a very strong one. A portion of the surface of the
ridge, up whose slope the charge had to be made, was bordered by rocks
projecting several feet from the ground. This natural wall was continued farther
on by an ordinary stone wall, while an intrenchment covered other portions of
the ridge.]
Seeing their adversaries advancing against these formidable positions, those
amongst the Federals who fought under Burnside have the same opinion: they are
at last to be avenged for the Fredericksburg disaster. The assailants also
understand the perils that await them. On the left, Pettigrew is yet far off; on
the right, Wilcox strays away from them and disappears amid the smoke. Pickett
therefore finds himself alone with his three brigades. Far from hesitating, his
soldiers rush forward at a double-quick. A fire of musketry breaks out along the
entire front of Gibbon's division. The Confederate ranks are thinning as far as
the eye can reach. Garnett, whose brigade has kept a little in advance, and who,
although sick, has declined to leave the post of honor, falls dead within a
hundred yards of the Federal lines; for an instant his troops come to a halt.
They are immediately joined by Kemper, who at a distance of sixty yards in the
rear has allowed their right to cover his left. The two brigades form a somewhat
unsteady line, which opens fire upon the enemy. But the Confederate projectiles
flatten themselves by thousands upon the strata of rocks, which are soon covered
with black spots like a target, and upon the wall behind which the Unionists are
seeking shelter. The game is too uneven: they must either fly or charge. These
brave soldiers have only halted for a few minutes, allowing Armistead the
necessary time to get into line. Encouraged by the example set by their chief,
they scale the acclivity which rises before them: their yells mingle with the
rattling of musketry; the smoke soon envelops the combatants.
Gibbon, seeing the enemy advancing with such determination, tries to stop his
progress by a counter-charge, but his voice is not heard; his soldiers fire in
haste, without leaving their ranks; the Confederates rush upon them.
Unfortunately for the assailants, their right not being protected by Wilcox,
their flank is exposed to the little wood which stretches beyond the Federal
line. Stannard's soldiers, concealed by the foliage, have suffered but little
from the bombardment; Hancock, always ready to seize a favorable opportunity,
causes them to form en potence along the edge of the wood in order to take the
enemy's line in flank. Two regiments from Armistead's right thus receive a
murderous fire which almost decimates and disorganizes them. The remainder of
the brigade throws itself in the rear of the centre of Pickett's line, which,
following this movement, momentarily inclines towards Hays in order to attack
the Federals at close quarters. Armistead, urging his men forward, has reached
the front rank between Kemper and Garnett,--if it be yet possible to distinguish
the regiments and brigades in this compact mass of human beings, which, all
covered with blood, seems to be driven by an irresistible force superior to the
individual will of those composing it, and throws itself like a solid body upon
the Union line. The shock is terrific: it falls at first upon the brigades of
Hall and Harrow, then concentrates itself upon that of Webb, against which the
assailants are oscillating right and left. The latter general in the midst of
his soldiers encourages them by his example; he is presently wounded. The
struggle is waged at close quarters; the Confederates pierce the first line of
the Federals, but the latter, dislodged from the wall, fall back upon the second
line, formed of small earthworks erected on the ridge in the vicinity of their
guns. These pieces fire grape-shot upon the assailants. Hancock and Gibbon bring
forward all their reserves.. The regiments become mixed; the commanders do not
know where their soldiers are to be found; but they are all pressing each other
in a compact mass, forming at random a living and solid bulwark more than four
ranks deep.
A clump of trees, in the neighborhood of which Cushing has posted his guns,
commanding the whole plateau, is the objective point that the Confederates keep
in view. Armistead, on foot, his hat perched on the point of his sword, rushes
forward to attack the battery. With one hundred and fifty men determined to
follow him unto death, he pierces the mass of combatants, passes beyond the
earthworks, and reaches the line of guns, which can no longer fire for fear of
killing friends and foes indiscriminately. But at the same moment, by the side
of Cushing, his young and gallant adversary, he falls pierced with balls. They
both lie at the foot of the clump of trees which marks the extreme point reached
by the Confederates in this supreme effort. These few trees, henceforth
historical, like a snail on the strand struck by a furious sea, no longer
possessing strength enough to draw back into its shell, constitute the limit
before which the tide of invasion stops,--a limit traced by the blood of some of
the bravest soldiers that America has produced.
In fact, if the Federals have thus seen a large number of their chieftains fall,
and their artillery left without ammunition, the effort of the assailants, on
the other hand, is exhausted.
[Wilcox, on the right, fails to reach a supporting position. Pettigrew, on the
left, followed closely by Trimble, arrives near the point of contest, but fails
to maintain his ground.]
After a combat at short range, very brief, but extremely murderous, in which
Trimble is seriously wounded, his troops and those of Pettigrew retire, even
before the two brigades under Thomas and Perrin have reached their position, and
while Pickett is still fighting on the right. The regular fire of Hays's
impregnable line drives the assailants from that point in the greatest disorder
as soon as they have taken one step in retreat. The four brigades of the Third
Confederate corps that have thus been repulsed leave two thousand prisoners and
fifteen stands of colors in the hands of the enemy. A few regiments of Archer's
and Scales's brigades, which outflank Hays on the left, throw themselves on the
right and unite with Pickett's soldiers, who are still contending with Gibbon.
This reinforcement is, however, quite insufficient for the Confederates, who
thus find themselves isolated, without support and without reserves, in the
midst of the Federal line. Kemper is wounded in his turn. Out of eighteen field-
officers and four generals, Pickett and one lieutenant-colonel alone remain
unharmed: there is hardly any one left around them, and it is a miracle to see
them yet safe and sound in the midst of such carnage.
The division does not fall back; it is annihilated. The flags which a while ago
were bravely floating upon the enemy's parapets fall successively, to the
ground, only to be picked up by the conquerors. A number of soldiers, not daring
to pass a second time the ground over which the Federals cross their fire, throw
down their arms: among those who are trying to gain the Southern lines many
victims are stricken down by cannon-balls. The conflict is at an end. Out of
four thousand eight hundred men that have followed Pickett, scarcely twelve to
thirteen hundred are to be found in the rear of Alexander's guns; three thousand
five hundred have been sacrificed and twelve stands of colors lost in this fatal
charge.
[While this retreat was taking place, Wilcox, who believed Pickett to be still
fighting, continued his advance. Stannard opened fire upon him from the opposite
side of the sheltering wood, and advanced two regiments to a position where
their fire took the Confederate line in flank. But Wilcox quickly realized the
situation, and hastily retired, leaving two hundred of his men on the field.
Thus disastrously ended the most desperate assault of the whole war. It could
scarcely have ended otherwise, considering the broad space of open ground which
the assailants had to traverse, and the advantageous position occupied by their
foes. With it ended the final effort at invasion on the part of Lee. With this
grand charge and its repulse the tide of the war definitely turned, and from the
slope of Cemetery Ridge it began to run downward to its final ebb at Appomattox.
Whether an advance in force by the Federals after the repulse of Pickett would
have been successful, is a question which has been much debated. At all events,
Meade did not risk it, but preferred to hold the advantage he had gained.
Nothing was left to the Confederate army but retreat. On the 4th of July this
retreat began. It was followed, but with considerable deliberation. Lee reached
the Potomac unharmed. The river was swollen, and he was obliged to remain for
some days on its banks, waiting for the waters to fall, and threatened by Meade.
But the expected attack did not come, and the Confederates crossed the stream on
the 12th of July without loss. Soon afterwards Meade followed across the
Potomac, and once more Virginia became the battle-ground.]
