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were the services of
Merritt and
Farnsworth, of
Kilpatrick's command, on the
Confederate right, for they prevented
Hood from turning
Meade's left during the terrible battle on the afternoon of the 3d.
both armies were severely shattered by losses and weakened by exhaustion,1 but each rested on the night after the battle, in ignorance of the real condition and destination of the other.
Lee felt that his situation was a perilous one,2 and early in the evening he withdrew Ewell's division from Gettysburg and the hills southeast of the town, and began preparations for a retreat toward the Potomac, by way of the Cumberland Valley.
During that night and all the next day,
while his Army remained on
Seminary Ridge, he sent away as many of his sick and wounded as possible, with his enormous wagon-train of baggage, stores, and plunder, and troops of horses, mules, and cattle, captured in
Pennsylvania.
3 these took the
Chambersburg and Hagerstown roads, and were followed on the evening of the 4th by the whole Army along the latter highway, by the village of
Fairfield,
4 carrying with them about four thousand prisoners. A severe rain-storm had commenced at the close of the day, and the flight was distressing to all who participated in it.
when it was made evident by the reports of cavalry scouts, on the night of the 3d,
that
Lee was about to retreat,
General Meade was urged by some of his officers to make an immediate advance on the Confederate Army.
Great responsibility makes men conservative and cautious.
It was only about twenty days since the command of the Army of the Potomac, at a most critical time in its history, with all the inherent responsibilities of the act, had been laid upon
General Meade.
This, and a consideration of the shattered condition of that Army after the great battle, made him cautious and prudent, and he would not consent to a renewal of the conflict at
Gettysburg.
So he lay there, quietly awaiting the development of the disposition and plans of his antagonist, until Sunday morning,. the 5th, when it was well known that
Lee's whole Army, excepting a few pickets, was on its way toward the
Potomac.
Then, having been re-enforced
