Meade was appointed in his place. Swinton says
that command was given to Meade "without any lets or hindrances, the
President expressly waiving all the powers of the executive and the
Constitution, so as to enable General Meade to make, untrammeled, the
best dispositions for the emergency." One would like to know the
authority upon which so extraordinary a statement is based; probably it
is a great exaggeration, and the simple fact would prove to be that,
since the situation was such that new developments were likely to occur
with much suddenness, the President wisely and even necessarily placed
the general in full control, free from requirements of communication and
consultation. But to represent that Mr. Lincoln abdicated his
constitutional functions is absurd! Be this as it may, the fact is that
the appointment brought no change of plan. For three days the armies
manoeuvred and drew slowly together. Finally it was betwixt chance and
choice that the place and hour of concussion were determined. The place
was the village of Gettysburg, and the time was the morning of July 1.
Then ensued a famous and most bloody fight! During three long, hot days
of midsummer those two great armies struggled in a desperate grapple,
and with not unequal valor, the Confederates fiercely assailing, the
Federals stubbornly holding, those historic ridges, and both alike,
whether attacking or defending, whether gaining or losing ground, always
falling in an awful carnage of dead and wounded.
Pages:
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160