for two years, and the Union army had
been defeated in all the great battles fought in Virginia. The only
victory won was that at Antietam in Maryland. They had been beaten at
the two battles of Bull Run, the seven days' fight at Richmond, and the
battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, while the battle of
Antietam had been won with great loss of life.

But there was soon to be a victory that would make up for more than one
defeat. Shortly after the fight at Chancellorsville General Lee broke
camp and marched north with the greatest speed. The Union army followed
as fast as they could march, for there was danger of Baltimore or even
Philadelphia being taken. Both armies kept on until they reached the
town of Gettysburg, in the south of Pennsylvania. Here was fought the
greatest battle of the war. It lasted for three days, the 1st, 2d and 3d
of July, 1863.

The loss of life on both sides was dreadful. But the Confederates lost
the most men and lost the battle besides. They tried in vain to break
through the Union lines, and in the end they were forced to retreat. On
the 4th of July General Lee sadly began his backward march, and the
telegraph wires carried all through the North the tidings of a great
victory. This was the turning point in the war. Six months before,
President Lincoln had proclaimed the freedom of the slaves, and the
armies were now fighting to make his word good. Negroes after this were
taken into the Union ranks, that they might help in the fight for their
own liberty.

I wish to say just here that the people of the North bore the defeats in
Virginia better than you would think. They had good reason to, for while
they had been losing battles in the East they had been winning battles
in the West. So one helped to make up for the other. If you will follow
me now to the West we will see what was taking place there.

The North did not have to change its generals as often in the West as in
the East, for it soon found a good one; and it was wise enough to hold
on to him. This was General Ulysses S. Grant, who is now honored as one
of the greatest generals of the world's history.

Grant was only a captain at first. Then he was made a colonel, and was
soon raised to the rank of general. He met the Confederates first at
Belmont, Missouri. Here he was defeated, and had to take his men aboard
river-boats to get them away. That was his first and nearly his last
defeat.

The Confederates had built two