opaque, thick darkness.
I really think Stanton is no better posted than myself, and from what
Stanton says am afraid Hooker does not comprehend Lee's intentions nor
know how to counteract them. It looks to me as if Lee was putting forth
his whole energy and force in one great and desperate struggle which
shall be decisive."

Following Lee, the Army of the Potomac, under General Hooker, also
recrossed the Potomac, and pursued the enemy by a somewhat parallel
route, but keeping carefully between him and Washington. The occasion
was one calling for the best resources of a great military commander;
and General Hooker, realizing his unfitness for the responsibility,
asked to be relieved of the command. Thus was thrown upon the President
the hazardous necessity of changing commanders upon the very eve of a
great battle. It was a terrible emergency. Even the stout-hearted
Stanton was appalled. He afterward stated that when he received the
despatch from Hooker, asking to be relieved, his heart sank within him,
and he was more depressed than at any other moment of the war. "I could
not say," said Mr. Stanton, "that any other officer knew General
Hooker's plans, or the position even of the various divisions of the
army. I sent for the President to come at once to the War Office. It was
in the evening, but the President soon appeared. I handed him the
despatch. As he read it his face became like lead, and I said, 'What
shall be done?' He replied instantly, '_Accept his resignation._'"

Immediately an order was sent to Major-General George G. Meade, one of
the most efficient of the corps commanders of the Army of the Potomac,
appointing him to the chief command. Meade was a quiet, unassuming man,
very unlike Hooker. Three days after assuming command, he led his army
against the Southern host at Gettysburg, where, after a most bloody and
memorable battle of three days' duration (July 1, 2, and 3, 1863), was
won the first decisive victory in the history of the gallant Army of the
Potomac. Lee retired, with disastrous losses, across the Potomac to
Virginia; and Washington and the North breathed free again.

Senator Chandler of Michigan, speaking of the terrible strain on Lincoln
during the progress of the battle of Gettysburg, said: "I shall never
forget the painful anxiety of those few days when the fate of the nation
seemed to hang in the balance; nor the restless solicitude of Mr.
Lincoln, as he paced up and down the room, readi