he Army of the Potomac.
With 90,000 men he attacked Lee and 45,000 men at Chancellorsville, May 1
to 4. The Confederate commander was at his best in this fearful four
days' struggle. Hooker, says a high Confederate authority, had guided his
army "into the mazes of the Wilderness, and got it so mixed and tangled
that no chance was afforded for a display of its mettle." Lee with
inferior forces managed by consummate strategy to meet and overcome
Hooker's subordinates in detail. Then he prepared for a crushing blow at
Hooker himself, which the latter escaped by a timely retreat. The
bombastic Order No. 49 which followed this sweeping disaster for the
Union arms did not deceive either President Lincoln or the people, who
had once more seen the lives of thousands of our gallant troops
sacrificed on the altar of shoulder-strapped incompetency. The killed and
wounded in this battle numbered about 25,000, of whom more than half were
Unionists. These figures repeat eloquently that real soldiers were
waiting for a real general. The death of "Stonewall" Jackson at
Chancellorsville was in no slight degree a compensation for Union losses.

The tide turned at Gettysburg. General George Gordon Meade succeeded
Hooker in command of the Army of the Potomac. Meade was not a brilliant
man, but he was a thorough soldier, and eminently free from that spirit
of envy which was the bane of our armies, which had nearly driven Grant
from the service, and which was responsible for the loss of more than one
battle. Elated by Chancellorsville, Lee determined to invade the North.
The South made an extreme effort to replenish its armies, and that of
Northern Virginia was raised to about 100,000 men. With the greater part
of this magnificent host, including 15,000 cavalry and 280 guns, Lee
marched down the Shenandoah Valley, crossed the Potomac on the
twenty-fifth of June, and headed for Chambersburg. Meade drew near with
the army of the Potomac, and such reinforcements as had been hastily
collected in Pennsylvania on the news of the invasion. At Gettysburg the
two armies met for the decisive battle of the war. Meade had on the field
83,000 men and 300 guns; Lee, 69,000 men and 250 guns. For three days the
two armies contended with frightful losses, and with a courage not
surpassed in ancient or modern warfare. The brave General John F.
Reynolds lost his life in the first encounter, and General Winfield Scott
Hancock was sent by Meade to take charge of