_."* Lee was, by the date
of this note, well on his way towards the North, and the military
situation grew every hour more critical.

THE THREE DAYS' BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.

The indispensable requisite to Union success was a commander for
the Army of the Potomac in whose competency the Administration,
the people, and most of all the soldiers would have confidence.
In the judgment of military men it was idle to intrust another
battle to the generalship of Hooker; and as the army moved across
Maryland to meet Lee on the soil of Pennsylvania, General Hooker
was relieved and the command of the army assigned to General George
G. Meade. This change of commanders was made by order of the
President on the 28th of June, only two days before the opening
engagement of the great battle of Gettysburg. By the middle of
June the advance guard of Lee's army had reached the upper Potomac,
and on its way had literally destroyed the division of the Union
army commanded by General Milroy and stationed at Winchester. The
agitation throughout the country was profound. On the 15th of June
as the magnitude of Lee's movement became more apparent, the
President issued a proclamation stating that "Maryland, West
Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio were threatened with invasion and
required an immediate addition to the military forces." He called
therefore for one hundred thousand militia from these four States
to serve for six months; ten thousand each from Maryland and West
Virginia, thirty thousand from Ohio, and fifty thousand from
Pennsylvania. All the surrounding States were aroused. Governor
Seymour sent fifteen thousand extra men from New York. Governor
Parker sent a valuable contingent from New Jersey. Western Maryland
was occupied at various points as early as the 20th of June, and
during the last week of that month rebel detachments were in the
southern counties of Pennsylvania committing depredations and
exacting tribute,--in York, Cumberland, Franklin, Fulton and Adams.

The two armies finally converged at Gettysburg, and on the 1st,
2d, and 3d of July the battle was fought which in many of its
aspects was the most critical and important of the war. The
Confederates began with the self-assurance of victory; and with
victory they confidently counted upon the occupation of Philadelphia
by Lee's army, upon the surrender of Baltimore, upon the flight of
the President and his Cabinet from Was