Hoo-ker’s place was giv-en to Gen. George G. Meade. The Un-ion ar-my and the foe met on the first day of Ju-ly, 1863. Friends of each side, North and South, held their breath with fear.
Lee, who had been so strong in de-fence was now to prove, for the last time, what he could do in at-tack. His plan to move in-to Penn-syl-va-ni-a was a good one, but Jack-son, who had long been a great help to him, was hurt and could not be there. Lee felt this loss.
June 3, 1863, Lee marched up the Val-ley of Shen-an-do-ah to-wards Cham-bers-burg. The Un-ion ar-my too took the same course, but on the oth-er, or eas-tern, side of the Blue Ridge. “Stu-art’s Cav-al-ry” held the pass-es and this kept the Un-ion troops from know-ing what went on on the west-ern side. Lee’s ar-my was the best of all the foe. Af-ter cross-ing the Po-to-mac the two ar-mies looked for each oth-er. Lee, fac-ing east, was com-ing from the west of the town of Get-tys-burg, and Meade was tak-ing his post on Cem-e-ter-y Ridge, at the south. It was not thought that a bat-tle, by all, would then be-gin, but “Meade’s Cav-al-ry,” led by Bu-ford, came up-on Lee’s front guard on Ju-ly 1, 1863, and they fought. The Un-ion men were forced back and had loss-es. Night then came on, and by that time both sides, each with a-bout 80,000 men, were in the moon-light up-on the ground. The troops were in good trim and of high cour-age. On the next day the foe car-ried works at both ends of the Un-ion line. The third day the Un-ion ar-my got back the lost ground on its right. The foe then made a fierce charge and broke through the cen-tre of the Un-ion ar-my, but were at last put down and sent back. The end of the charge was the end of the bat-tle and point-ed to the end of the war. In this fight Lee lost 36,000 men. With those he lost the first time he made a thrust at the North, and these, 90,000 of some of the best troops in the world laid down their lives for the cause they held dear.
ARMY WAGON.
Meade, at this time, lost 23,000 men. The Un-ion was saved. Meade let Lee go slow-ly a-cross the Po-to-mac. One more move was made by Lee two or three months lat-er in a quick dash o’er the Rap-i-dan, with the thought that he might get a-round Meade’s right flank. But Meade was too bright to be thus caught. Then he tried the same game on Lee but with no gain, and so the “Cam-paign of 1863,” in the East, came to an end.
The great news that the Un-ion troops had won at Get-tys-burg, and that the Un-ion for-ces had al-so won in the West, and that the whole Mis-sis-sip-pi Riv-er was in the hands of the boys in blue, flashed o’er the wires with-in a few days of each oth-er.
Pres-i-dent Lin-coln’s heart was made glad. The sad look left his face. When some one in a high post at Wash-ing-ton asked him if he had not felt “great anx-i-e-ty” a-bout the fate of the Un-ion cause at Get-tys-burg, he said he “Thought it would all come out right.” Then came the ques-tion, “Why?” At first Lin-coln did not speak, then he said: