Generous praise for his victory, and repeated and urgent suggestions to renew his attack and end the rebellion, had gone to Meade from the President and General Halleck.  But Meade hesitated, and his council of war objected; and on the night of July 13 Lee recrossed the Potomac in retreat.  When he heard the news, Mr. Lincoln sat down and wrote a letter of criticism and disappointment which reflects the intensity of his feeling at the escape of Lee: 

“The case, summarily stated, is this:  You fought and beat the enemy at Gettysburg, and, of course, to say the least, his loss was as great as yours.  He retreated and you did not, as it seemed to me, pressingly pursue him; but a flood in the river detained him till, by slow degrees, you were again upon him.  You had at least twenty thousand veteran troops directly with you, and as many more raw ones within supporting distance, all in addition to those who fought with you at Gettysburg, while it was not possible that he had received a single recruit, and yet you stood and let the flood run down, bridges be built, and the enemy move away at his leisure, without attacking him....  Again, my dear general, I do not believe you appreciate the magnitude of the misfortune involved in Lee’s escape.  He was within your easy grasp, and to have closed upon him would, in connection with our other late successes, have ended the war.  As it is, the war will be prolonged indefinitely.  If you could not safely attack Lee last Monday, how can you possibly do so south of the river, when you can take with you very few more than two thirds of the force you then had in hand?  It would be unreasonable to expect, and I do not expect [that] you can now effect much.  Your golden opportunity is gone, and I am distressed immeasurably because of it.”

Clearly as Mr. Lincoln had sketched and deeply as he felt Meade’s fault of omission, so quick was the President’s spirit of forgiveness, and so thankful was he for the measure of success which had been gained, that he never signed or sent the letter.

Two memorable events are forever linked with the Gettysburg victory:  the surrender of Vicksburg to Grant on the same fourth of July, described in the next chapter, and the dedication of the Gettysburg battle-field as a national cemetery for Union soldiers, on November 19, 1863, on which occasion President Lincoln crowned that imposing ceremonial with an address of such literary force, brevity, and beauty, that critics have assigned it a high rank among the world’s historic orations.  He said: 

“Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

“Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.  We are met on a great battle-field of that war.  We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.  It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.