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flood run down, bridges be built, and the enemy move away at his leisure, without attacking him.... Again, my dear general, I do not believe you appreciate the magnitude of the misfortune involved in Lee's escape.
He was within your easy grasp, and to have closed upon him would, in connection with our other late successes, have ended the war. As it is, the war will be prolonged indefinitely.
If you could not safely attack Lee last Monday, how can you possibly do so south of the river, when you can take with you very few more than two thirds of the force you then had in hand?
It would be unreasonable to expect, and I do not expect [that] you can now effect much.
Your golden opportunity is gone, and I am distressed immeasurably because of it.
Clearly as
Mr. Lincoln had sketched and deeply as he felt
Meade's fault of omission, so quick was the
President's spirit of forgiveness, and so thankful was he for the measure of success which had been gained, that he never signed or sent the letter.
Two memorable events are forever linked with the
Gettysburg victory: the surrender of
Vicksburg to
Grant on the same fourth of July, described in the next chapter, and the dedication of the
Gettysburg battle-field as a national cemetery for Union soldiers, on November 19, 1863, on which occasion
President Lincoln crowned that imposing ceremonial with an address of such literary force, brevity, and beauty, that critics have assigned it a high rank among the world's historic orations.
He said:
Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing
