ttend to him. Forty thousand troops,
aching for the fray, were left idle while Lee was hammering away against
the portion of the Union line commanded by Sickles. Ammunition gave out,
and charge after charge had to be repulsed with the bayonet.

Sickles's brave men at last yielded. The Confederate attack of May 4th
was nearly all directed against Sedgwick, whose noble corps narrowly
escaped capture. That night the whole army fell back to nearly its old
position north of the Rappahannock. Except that at Fredericksburg it was
the most disgraceful fiasco on either side during the war. It cost
17,000 men, and accomplished less than nothing. The South was elated. It
proposed again to invade the North and this time dictate terms of peace.

Early in June Lee's jubilant army, strengthened to 100,000, with 15,000
cavalry and 280 guns, started on its second grand Northern Campaign. It
marched down the Shenandoah Valley, crossed the Potomac on the 25th, and
headed for Chambersburg, Penn. The Army of the Potomac marched parallel
with it, on the east side of the Blue Ridge, and crossed the Potomac a
day later. Hooker suddenly resigned, and Meade was put in command.

[Illustration: Portrait.]
General James Longstreet.

Lee reached Chambersburg; his advance even pushed well on toward
Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania. At Chambersburg he waited
eagerly for those riots in northern cities by which the "copperheads"
had expected to aid his march. In vain. Meade was drawing near. "Pressed
by the finger of destiny, the Confederate army went down to Gettysburg,"
and here the advance of both hosts met on July 1st. After some sharp
fighting the Union van was driven back in confusion through Gettysburg,
with a loss of 10,000 men, half of them prisoners. The brave General
Reynolds, commanding the First Corps, lost his life in this action. The
residue fell back to Cemetery Hill, south of the town. Meade, fifteen
miles to the south, sent Hancock on to take command of the field, and
see what it was best to do. This able and trusty officer hurried to the
scene of action in an ambulance, studying maps as he went. He saw at a
glance the strength of Cemetery Ridge and resolved to retreat no
farther. The remaining corps were ordered up, and by noon of July 2d had
mostly taken their positions.

The Union army lay along an elevation some three miles in length,
resembling a fish-hook in shape. At the extreme southern end forming
the head of t