Jefferson Davis, dated July 7th, 8th, and
10th, showed great apprehension as to the result of a battle if
attacked in his then situation.(12)

Meade's army was also greatly impeded by circumstances beyond human
control. When, on the 13th of July, a general attack was contemplated,
rain fell in torrents, and the cultivated fields were so soft as
to render the movement of artillery and troops almost impossible.
The wheels of the gun-carriages sunk so deep in the soft earth as
to forbid the guns being fired safely. Meade was urged, by dispatches
from Halleck, and by one from President Lincoln, to attack Lee
before he crossed the Potomac.(13) Meade was fully alive to the
importance of doing this, but he displayed some timidity peculiar
to his nature, and sought to have all the conditions in his favor
before risking another battle. His combinations were made with
too much precision for the time he had to do it in.

A less cautious commander might, during the first few days, have
assailed Lee precipitately on his front or flank, or both
simultaneously, relying on his not being able to concentrate his
army to resist it. But after Lee had concentrated his forces and
intrenched in a well selected position, covering Williamsport and
Falling Waters, the result of an attack would have been doubtful,
yet, in the light of what was later known, one should have been
made. Meade, however, had done well under the circumstances at
Gettysburg, and a two-weeks'-old independent commander, not yet
accustomed to fighting a large army in aggressive battle, is entitled
to considerate judgment.

The revised lists of losses in the battle and campaign of Gettysburg
in the Army of the Potomac show 246 officers and 2909 enlisted men
killed, 1145 officers and 13,384 enlisted men wounded, total 17,684;
also 183 officers and 5182 enlisted men captured, grand total
23,049. The First and Eleventh Corps lost, chiefly on the first
day, in captured, 3527.(14)

The imperfect lists of losses in the Army of Northern Virginia do
not show the number of killed and wounded officers separately from
enlisted men, and from some of the commands no reports are found,
yet, so far as made, they show 2592 killed and 12,709 wounded,
total 15,301, and 5150 captured, grand total 20,541.(15) The
records of prisoners of war in the Adjutant-General's Office,
U.S.A., give the names of 12,227 wounded and unwounded Confederates
captured at Gettysburg, July 1st to 5th,