GDG- NY Herald on Lee's Retreat

[Henry Rato]

Thanks Tom,
    You did it again with this substantive and educational reply from which us civil war buffs(of operations orientation) love reading about!  Please keep up the great work!
   
  Henry
  

Tom Ryan <pennmardel at mchsi.com> wrote:
  Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:


In light of our discussions about the retreat and pursuit of Lee following
the Battle of Gettysburg, it is interesting to read the perspective and
expectations of a major Northern newspaper. This article was published four
days prior to Lee's escape across the Potomac:

July 10, 1863
The New York Herald

The Position of General Lee

Arrested in his flight by the flooded Potomac, with his
immense army train, General Lee has been compelled to prepare
for another battle with the advancing army of General Meade,
and we think it altogether probable that a terrible struggle
will take place between the two armies this day or to-morrow.
With Lee the question is narrowed down to the rescue of his
army form its perilous situation, or the loss of his army,
and with it the immediate collapse of the rebellion.


What is the prospect? To avoid any argument in regard to
the losses of Lee since the first day of July at Gettysburg,
we will put them at the lowest reported figures, and we will
assume that on that day his army amounted to ninety thousand
men. In those three days'battles, according to the lowest
estimates, his killed and wounded left on the field amounted to
fifteen thousand men, and he has lost in prisoners, thus far
reported, twelve thousand men. Add to these the wounded that
he carried off with him, and his stragglers dropped behind on
the way, General Lee returns to the Potomac shorn of full
one-third of the army with which he entered Maryland. His
whole force now halted on the Potomac does not exceed sixty
thousand, and it may in reality be less than forty thousand
men. On the other hand, while General Meadelosses have
doubtless been fully made up by the acquisition of General
Frenchtroops, who were not in the battles of Gettysburg,
we dare say that his army now is considerably stronger than it
was on the first day of July, from other reinforcements, to say
nothing of the auxiliary militia army of General Couch. The
odds, therefore, appear to be so heavily against Lee that we
cannot doubt that the issue of this impending battle will be
the end of this late invading and defiant rebel army, and the
end of the rebellion. The only chance of escape to Lee
appears to depend upon his ability to hold our opposing army
at bay for two or three days, in which time the river may
fall to a fordable stage. But we presume that General Meade
is duly informed of this probable contingency, and will not
wait for the river to fall.

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