Power of the Confederates Abroad

Slocum renewed the battle at four o'clock on the morning of the 3d, when he drove the Confederates out of his lines after a hard struggle for four hours. There he held Ewell in check, while the contest raged elsewhere. Lee, perceiving the Little Round Top-a steep, rocky eminence-to be impregnable, proceeded, at a little past noon, to attack the more vulnerable centre. Upon this he opened one hundred and forty-five heavy cannon, chiefly against Cemetery Hill and its vicinity, occupied by Meade's centre. A hundred National great guns quickly answered; and for two hours a fearful cannonade that shook the country around was kept up. Then the Confederates, in heavy columns, preceded by a cloud of skirmishers, swept over the plain and assailed the National line with great fury. It was intended by Lee to give a crushing blow that should ensure victory. A terrible struggle followed, that covered the ground with the slain-men and horses. At sunset the Confederates were repulsed at all points; and the decisive battle of Gettysburg ended in triumph for the Army of the Potomac. In that fearful struggle, the Nationals lost in killed, wounded and missing, over twenty-three thousand men; the Confederates lost about thirty thousand, including fourteen thousand prisoners.

On the evening of the day after the battle (July 4, 1863), Lee began a retreat toward Virginia, followed the next day by Meade, who pursued as far as the Potomac, which had been filled to the brim by heavy rains; but the Confederate leader, by skillful management, kept the Nationals at bay until he had made ready to cross that stream by pontoons and fording.

This he did with his shattered army, his artillery and trains, on the 14th of July, much to the disappointment of the loyal people. Perceiving the battle to be a decisive one in favor of the Union cause, and believing it to be a turning point in the war, the President of the United States recommended the people to observe the 15th of August next ensuing as a day for public National thanksgiving, praise, and prayer. And the Secretary of State (Mr. Seward), satisfied that the insurrection would soon be ended by the discomfiture of its supporters, sent a cheering circular to the diplomatic agents of the Republic abroad, in which he recited the most important events of the war to that time; declared that "the country showed no sign of exhaustion of money, material or men;" that one was "Purchased at par by our citizens at the rate of $1,200,000 daily;" and that gold was selling in our markets at 23 to 28 per centum premium, while in the insurrectionary region it commanded twelve hundred per centum premium.