figures were only a trifle less on the Confederate side. But if such
bloodshed carried grief into many a Northern household, at least there
was not the cruel thought that life and limb, health and usefulness, had
been sacrificed through incompetence and without advantage to the cause.
It was true that the Northern general ought to have won, for he
commanded more troops,[45] held a very strong defensive position, and
fought a strictly defensive battle. But such had been the history of the
war that when that which _ought_ to be done _was_ done, the people felt
that it was fair cause for rejoicing. Later there was fault-finding and
criticism; but that during so many days so many troops on unfamiliar
ground should be handled in such a manner that afterward no critic can
suggest that something might have been done better, hardly falls among
possibilities. The fact was sufficient that a most important and
significant victory had been won. On the battlefield a stone now
undertakes to mark the spot and to name the hour where and when the
flood tide of rebellion reached its highest point, and where and when it
began its slow and sure ebb. Substantially that stone tells the truth.
Nevertheless the immediately succeeding days brought keen, counteracting
disappointment. Expectation rose that the shattered army of Lee would
never cross the Potomac; and the expectation was entirely reasonable,
and ought to have been fulfilled. But Meade seemed to copy McClellan
after Antietam. Spurred on by repeated admonitions from the President
and General Halleck, he did, on July 10, catch up with the retreating
army, which was delayed at Williamsport on the north bank of the river
by the unusually high water. He camped close by it, and received
strenuous telegrams urging him to attack. But he did not,[46] and on
the night of July 13 the Southern general successfully placed the
Potomac between himself and his too tardy pursuer. Bitter then was the
resentment of every loyal man at the North. For once the President
became severe and sent a dispatch of such tenor that General Meade