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[388] heights of Falmouth, he would have been beaten most disastrously. And, though Meade's position at Gettysburg does not compare in strength with Lee's on the Fredericksburg heights, it was probably worth a reenforcement of 10,000 men.

Nor is Meade justly blamable for not pushing forward at once, on the heels of his beaten foes. Around him lay nearly or quite one-fourth of his army, killed or wounded; he knew that his own ammunition was running low; lie did not know that Lee's was even more completely exhausted. If he had ordered a general advance, and been repelled from Seminary ridge by such a fire as had met and crushed the Rebel assailants of Cemetery hill, lie would have been reproached as rash and fool-hardy by many who have deemed him deficient in courage or in heartiness because he did not make the Union a Fourth-of-July present of the remnant of Lee's army.

His real and grave error dated several days back of this. He had, on assuming command, been authorized to do as he judged best with French's force on Maryland Heights, and Couch's in central Pennsylvania. Had he, on deciding to fight Lee so soon as circumstances favored, ordered both these to join him at the earliest moment, lie would now have been consciously master of the situation, and might have blocked Lee's return to Virginia. But he gave no such order to Couch; and having, at Butterfield's urgent suggestion, withdrawn French's 11,000 men from Maryland Heights, lie left 7,000 of them standing idle at Frederick, sending the residue as train-guards to Washington, and actually apologized to Halleck, on meeting him, for having moved them at all! Had Gettysburg been lost for want of these 11,000 men, his would have been a fearful responsibility.

Couch's militia were pronounced worthless by worthless officers, who forget what Washington, Gates, and Jackson, severally did with militia; but, though they had been only held in reserve, or set to guarding trains, their presence would have had a wholesome moral effect. And now, if they had been at hand to set on the track of the beaten, flying Rebels, they might have done more, and could not have done less, than Sedgwick did when sent on that same errand.

Meade states our losses in this series of battles around Gettysburg at 2,834 killed, 13,709 wounded, and 6,643 missing (mainly taken prisoners on the 1st): total, 23,186.1 He only claims 3 guns as captured this side of the Potomac, with 41 flags and 13,621 prisoners--many of them wounded, of course. He adds that 24,978 small arms were collected on the field; but part of them may have been previously our own.

Lee gives no return of his losses; but they were probably not materially greater nor less than ours2--our men fighting on the defensive, somewhat protected by breastworks, and

1 Among our killed, not already mentioned, were Brig.-Gens. S. H. Weed, N. Y., and E. J. Farnsworth, Mich.; Cols. Vincent and Willard (commanding brigades), Cross, 5th N. H., O'Rorke, 140th N. Y., Revere, 20th Mass., and Taylor, Pa. “Bucktails.” Among our wounded were Brig.-Gens. Gibbon, Barlow, Stannard, Webb, and Paul.

2 Pollard rather candidly says:

On our side, Pickett's division had been engaged in the hottest work of the day, and the havoc in its ranks was appalling. Its losses on this day are famous, and should be commemorated in detail. Every Brigadier in the division was killed or wounded. Out of 24 regimental officers, only two escaped unhurt. The Colonels of five Virginia regiments were killed. The 9th Virginia went in 250 strong, and came out with only 38 men; while the equally gallant 19th rivaled the terrible glory of such devoted courage.

Among the Rebel killed were Brig.-Gens. Barksdale, Miss., and Garnett, Va. Among their wounded, Maj.-Gens. Hood, Trimble, Heth, and Pender, the latter mortally: Brig.-Gens. Pettigrew, Kemper, Scales, G. T. Anderson, Hampton, J. M. Jones, Jenkins, Armistead, and Semmes: the two latter mortally.

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