256 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



army, placed as the Confederates were, can retreat during the night 

 without interruption ; and, once in motion, all advantage of speed lies 

 with them. They can destroy bridges and block roads ; and, while the 

 main body marches steadily on, a weak rear-guard will suffice to com- 

 pel the pursuing column to halt, deploy, and lose time. The Union 

 Army arrived before the entrenched position at Williamsport with only 

 a small numerical superiority ; and it is safe to say that a force even 

 of two to one would scarcely have availed to carry the lines by assault. 

 All testimony — and it includes that of British officers — is to the 

 effect that the morale of the rebel army was unimpaired. And this 

 may well be believed, if we recall its last days, when, at Sailor's Creek 

 and at Farmville, a rear-guard composed of weary, half-starved men, 

 who knew their case was hopeless, faced steadily about, and for a 

 time held back the enemies who crowded from all sides upon them. 

 It may therefore be considered morally certain that any hasty attack 

 on Lee in his position on the Potomac would have ended in a disaster 

 which might have gone far to neutralize the advantage of Gettysburg. 

 General Humphreys, an officer who does not deal in ill-considered 

 rhetoric, closes his critical description thus : " After a careful exami- 

 nation of the subject, so far as I am capable of forming an opinion, I 

 am led to the conclusion that Meade at Gettysburg had a more diffi- 

 cult task than Wellington at Waterloo, and performed it equally well, 

 although he had no Bliicher to turn the scale in his favor." He perti- 

 nently adds that Wellington, for Waterloo, was loaded with honors 

 and received £200,000 from Parliament. "Meade, who was a Major 

 in the Corjjs of Engineers, was promoted to the rank of Brigadier- 

 General in the regular army, and was gratified at this mai'k of ap- 

 proval ! " 



In the movements that followed this great action, the position of 

 commander of the Army of the Potomac was one of extreme difficulty ; 

 because he was expected, with an inadequate force, not only to beat 

 the enemy, but at the same moment to cover Washington. For it is 

 to be noted that Richmond, a place of moderate size, and separated by 

 a vast extent of bad country from any other Southern city, was not 

 to be weighed against Washington, the capital of the nation, full of 

 archives and valuable public buildings, and close to the populous cities 

 of Baltimore and Philadelphia. Therefore the Union Army was, in 

 some sort, compelled to dance attendance on the rebel ; as during the 

 singular movement of Lee upon Centerville, by Warrenton, in October, 

 1863. Meade had then no alternative but to march in all haste 

 parallel to him, endeavoring to cut the head of his column and force 



