The
Southern Commander still believed his men could do the impossible.
Longstreet begged his Chief that night to withdraw and choose another
field. Lee ordered the third day's fight. On his gray horse he watched
Pickett lead his immortal charge and fall back down the hill.
He rode quietly to the front, rallying the broken lines. He made no
speech. He uttered no bombast.
He calmly lifted his hand and cried:
"Never mind--boys!"
To his officers he said:
"It's all my fault. We'll talk it over afterward. Let every good man
rally now."
His army had never known a panic. The men quietly fell into line and
cheered their Commander.
To an English officer on the field Lee quietly said:
"This has been a sad day for us, Colonel--a sad day; but we can't expect
always to gain victories."
Lee had lost twenty thousand men and fourteen generals. Meade had lost
twenty-three thousand men and seventeen generals. Lee withdrew his army
across the swollen Potomac, carrying away his guns and all the prisoners
he had taken.
General Meade had saved the North, but Lee's army was still intact, on
its old invincible lines in Virginia, sixty-five thousand strong.
The news from Gettysburg crushed the soul of Davis. He had hoped with
this battle to end the war, and stop the frightful slaughter of our
noblest men, North and South.
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