Hooker asked
to be relieved from command. The President, deeming divided counsel at
so critical a juncture more hazardous than a change of command, took
Hooker at his word, and appointed General George G. Meade as his
successor.

Meade had, since Chancellorsville, been as caustic a critic of Hooker as
Hooker was of Burnside at and after Fredericksburg. But all spirit of
insubordination vanished in the exciting stress of a pursuing campaign
and the new and retiring leaders of the Army of the Potomac exchanged
compliments in General Orders with high chivalric courtesy, while the
army continued its northward march with undiminished ardor and unbroken
step. When Meade crossed the Pennsylvania line, Lee was already far
ahead, threatening Harrisburg. The Confederate invasion spread terror
and loss among farms and villages, and created almost a panic in the
great cities. Under the President's call for one hundred thousand six
months' militia six of the adjoining States were sending hurried and
improvised forces to the banks of the Susquehanna, under the command of
General Couch. Lee, finding that stream too well guarded, turned his
course directly east, which, with Meade marching to the north, brought
the opposing armies into inevitable contact and collision at the town of
Gettysburg.

Meade had both expected and carefully prepared to receive the attack
and fight a defensive battle on the line of Pipe Creek. But when, on the
afternoon of July 1, 1863, the advance detachments of each army met and
engaged in a fierce conflict for the possession of the town, Meade, on
learning the nature of the fight, and the situation of the ground,
instantly decided to accept it, and ordering forward his whole force,
made it the principal and most decisive battle-field of the whole war.

The Union troops made a violent and stubborn effort to hold the town of
Gettysburg; but the early Confederate arrivals, taking position in a
half-circle on the west, north, and east, drove them through and out of
it. The seeming reverse proved an advantage. Half a mile to the south it
enabled the Union detachments to seize and establish themselves on
Cemetery Ridge and Hill. This, with several rocky elevations, and a
crest of boulders making a curve to the east at the northern end, was in
itself almost a natural fortress, and with the intrenchments thrown up
by the expert veterans, soon became nearly impregnable. Beyond a wide
valley to the west, and parall