y have been
that he was not then at his best. Concludingly, it may be granted
to armchair (and even other) critics that if everything had been
something else the results might not have been the same.

Lee, having invaded the North by marching northeast under cover of
the mountains and wheeling southeast to concentrate at Gettysburg,
found Buford's cavalry suddenly resisting him, as they formed the
northwest outpost of Meade's army, which was itself concentrating
round Pipe Creek, near Taneytown in Maryland, fifteen miles southeast.
Gettysburg was a meeting place of many important roads. It stood at
the western end of a branch line connecting with all the eastern
rails. And it occupied a strong strategic point in the vitally
important triangle formed by Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Washington.
Thus, like a magnet, it drew the contending armies to what they
knew would prove a field decisive of the whole campaign.

The Federal line, as finally held on the third of July, was nearly
five miles long. The front faced west and was nearly three miles
long. The flanks, thrown back at right angles, faced north and
south. Near the north end of the front stood Cemetery Hill, near
the south the Devil's Den, a maze of gigantic bowlders. Along the
front the ground was mostly ridged, and even the lower ground about
the center was a rise from which a gradual slope went down to the
valley that rose again to the opposite heights of Seminary Ridge,
where Lee had his headquarters only a mile away. The so-called
hills were no more than hillocks, the ridges were low, and most
slopes were those of a rolling country. But the general contour
of the ground, the swelling hillocks on the flanks (Culp's Hill
on the right, the Round Tops on the left) and the broad glacis up
which attackers must advance against the center, all combined to
make the position very strong indeed when held by even or superior
numbers.

The first day's fight began when A. P. Hill's Confederates, with
Longstreet's following, closed in on Gettysburg from the west to
meet Ewell's, who were coming down from the north. Buford's Federal
cavalry resisted Hill's advanced brigades successfully till Reynolds
had brought the First Corps forward in support and ordered the
two other nearest corps to follow at the double quick. Reynolds
was killed early in the day; but not before his well trained eye
had taken in the situation at a glance and his sure judgment had
half committed b