e enemy, either under Siegel or any other commander.
With this exception, and some minor cases of very little consequence in
the general result, our troops whenever and wherever the enemy came,
stood against them storms of impassable fire. Such was the infantry,
such the artillery--the cavalry did less but it did all that was
required.

The enemy, too, showed a determination and valor worthy of a better
cause. Their conduct in this battle even makes me proud of them as
Americans. They would have been victorious over any but the best of
soldiers. Lee and his generals presumed too much upon some past
successes, and did not estimate how much they were due on their part to
position, as at Fredericksburg, or on our part to bad generalship, as at
the 2d Bull Run and Chancellorsville.

The fight of the 1st of July we do not, of course, claim as a victory;
but even that probably would have resulted differently had Reynolds not
been struck. The success of the enemy in the battle ended with the 1st
of July. The Rebels were joyous and jubilant--so said our men in their
hands, and the citizens of Gettysburg--at their achievements on that
day. Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville were remembered by them. They
saw victory already won, or only to be snatched from the streaming
coat-tails of the 11th corps, or the "_raw Pennsylvania militia_" as
they thought they were, when they saw them run; and already the spires
of Baltimore and the dome of the National Capitol were forecast upon
their glad vision--only two or three days march away through the
beautiful valleys of Pennsylvania and "_my_" Maryland. Was there ever
anything so fine before? How splendid it would be to enjoy the poultry
and the fruit, the meats, the cakes, the beds, the clothing, the
_Whiskey_, without price in this rich land of the Yankee! It would,
indeed! But on the 2d of July something of a change came over the spirit
of these dreams. They were surprised at results and talked less and
thought more as they prepared supper that night. After the fight of the
3d they talked only of the means of their own safety from destruction.
Pickett's splendid division had been almost annihilated, they said, and
they talked not of how many were lost, but of who had escaped. They
talked of these "Yanks" that had _clubs_ on their flags and caps, the
trefoils of the 2d corps that are like _clubs_ in cards.

The battle of Gettysburg is distinguished in this war, not only as by
far the