The Photographic History of The Civil War: in ten volumes, Thousands of Scenes Photographed 1861-65, with Text by many Special Authorities, Volume 10: The Armies and the Leaders.
Francis Trevelyan Miller, Ed.

Weakened though Lee was, he determined upon another invasion of the North—his glorious, but ill-fated, Gettysburg campaign. Was it justifiable before those three days of fierce fighting that ended in Pickett's charge? Was Lee merely candid, not magnanimous, when he took upon himself the responsibility for the failure of his brilliant plans; or are his biographers in the right when they seek to relieve him at the expense of erring and recalcitrant subordinates? In his confidence in himself and his army, did he underrate the troops and the commander opposing him? Could Meade, after July 3d, have crushed Lee and materially shortened the war?

However these military questions may be finally answered, if final answers are ever obtained, Lee's admirers need feel little apprehension for his fame. The genius to dare greatly and the character to suffer calmly have always been and will always be the chief attributes of the world's supreme men of action. These, in splendid measure, are the attributes of Lee, and they were never more conspicuously displayed than in the Gettysburg campaign. Success is not always a true measure of greatness, but insistence upon success as a standard is a very good measure for a certain kind of smallness.

Meade not acting on the offensive, Lee began to retreat and at last got his army across the Potomac. Meade followed him into Virginia, but no important fighting was done in that State during the remainder of 1863, a year in which the Confederacy fared badly elsewhere. Lee suggested that he should be relieved by a younger man, but President Davis was too wise to accede, and the Southern cause was assured of its champion, even though the gaunt forms of famine and defeat kept drawing nearer and nearer.

Lee's army suffered severely during the winter of 1863– 64 in the defenses behind the Rapidan, but its chief bore all privations with a simple Christian fortitude that renders super-