friend Hancock had been wounded. The
men who followed him were killed,
wounded, or captured. Pickett’s charge
had failed. Through the smoke,
survivors trudged back to Seminary
Ridge. Lee greeted some of them, and
lamented, “All this has been my fault.”
In the evening of July 4, the
Army of Northern Virginia began its
long retreat back to the safety ofVirginia. Leaving in a
downpour, it wound
its way west across the
South Mountain to
Chambersburg, then
turned south toward
Hagerstown and the
Shenandoah Valley, from
which it had come. The
line of ambulances filled
with wounded stretched
back for 17 miles (27km)
along the road.
Meade’s army had
also suffered badly,
and he followed too
cautiously, much to the
exasperation of Lincoln,
who saw another opportunity to
crush Lee north of the Potomac
River lost.The human cost
Union losses at Gettysburg came to just
over 23,000 men, the costliest battle
yet for the North. Confederate losses
were estimated at between 23,000 and
28,000. Such destruction of manpower
meant that Lee could never again take
the strategic offensive. The loss of
experienced officers was especially
devastating. Lee’s gamble to crush the
Army of the Potomac had only
weakened the Confederacy.THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURGripping great holes in the
advancing gray ranks.
The gaps filled, and the
Confederates kept coming. As
they crossed the Emmitsburg
Road, Union infantry joined
in with devastating volleys.
Some of the men in blue
chanted “Fredericksburg,
Fredericksburg!” in reference
to the recent Union defeat
in December the previous
year. Now it was their turn
to be victorious.
Repelled and defeated
Most of Pettigrew’s
and Trimble’s shredded
commands disintegrated before they
reached Cemetery Ridge, but a few
joined the remnants of Pickett’s
division as about 200 Southerners
jumped over the stone wall, planted
their flags on the Union position, and
fought hand-to-hand using clubbed
muskets and bayonets. A few of
Hancock’s regiments were overrun and
started to turn for the rear, but timely
reinforcements bolstered the Union
line and prevented the breakthrough.
Brigadier General Lewis Armistead,
one of Pickett’s commanders, fell while
leading his men with his hat on the tip
of his sword, minutes after his old
After Gettysburg, Confederate fortunes
began an almost uninterrupted decline in
all theaters of the war. Only minor
inconclusive actions were fought in the
East for the rest of 1863.VICTORIES AND REVERSES
On July 4, the day Lee began his retreat from
Gettysburg, Confederate forces surrendered at
Vicksburg 190–95 ❯❯. Union prospects in
the West were matching the success in the East.
In Tennessee, Union armies launched an
offensive in late June 1863. The Confederates,
under General Braxton Bragg, abandoned
Chattanooga in early September, but fought back
with a victory at Chickamauga 210–13 ❯❯.
In the aftermath, the Union army was besieged in
Chattanooga 214–15 ❯❯.GRANT PROMOTED
On October 17, 1863, in response to the reverses
in Tennessee, Lincoln appointed Grant, hero of
the capture of Vicksburg, to overall command
of the Western theater 196–97 ❯❯.AFTER
Visual record
Photographers visited the Gettysburg battlefield in the
aftermath of the battle, documenting scenes like this
of a dead Confederate sharpshooter. His body has been
moved and posed among the rocks of Devil’s Den.Ambulance at Gettysburg
The Army of the Potomac’s Ambulance Corps was the
first medical organization on either side specifically
established to ensure that wounded men were
evacuated from the battlefield as soon as possible.