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Summary: A day after the Battle of Gettysburg, with both armies still occupying the field, Union General George Meade congratulates his soldiers. This is the earliest printed report of the victory at Gettysburg. “It is right and proper that we should … return our grateful thanks to the Almighty Disposer of events … the privations and fatigue the Army has endured and the heroic courage and gallantry it has displayed will be matters of history to be ever remembered.” [Major General George Meade]. Broadside. “Head Quarters Army of the Potomac” Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July 4, 1863 [4:15 p.m.]. General Order 68. Inventory# 20792 $27,500
Complete Transcript: Head Quarters Army of the Potomac,
July 4th, 1863
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General Orders}
No. 68. }
The Commanding General, on behalf of the country, thanks the Army of the Potomac for the glorious result of the recent operations.
An enemy superior in numbers and flushed with the pride of a successful invasion, attempted to overcome and destroy this Army. Utterly baffled and defeated, he has now withdrawn from the contest. The privations and fatigue the Army has endured, and the heroic courage and gallantry it has displayed will be matters of history to be ever remembered.
Our task is not yet accomplished, and the Commanding General looks to the Army for greater efforts to drive from our soil every vestige of the presence of the invader.
It is right and proper that we should, on all suitable occasions, return our grateful thanks to the Almighty Disposer of events, that in the goodness of his Providence He has thought fit to give victory to the cause of the just.
By command of
Maj. Gen. Meade.
S. Williams, Asst. Adj. General. Historical Background:
The official printed General Order 68 gives the time of this as 4:15 p.m. Lincoln, on reading this order and reports depicting the lack of follow-up attacks against Lee’s army, sent a critical and pressing reply to Major-General Henry Halleck:
Soldiers’ Home, / [Washington,] July 6, 1863--7 p.m. / Major-General Halleck: / I left the telegraph office a good deal dissatisfied. You know I did not like the phrase, in Orders, No. 68, I believe, ‘Drive the invaders from our soil.’ Since
that, I see a dispatch from General French, saying the enemy is crossing his wounded over the river in flats, without saying why he does not stop it, or even intimating a thought that it ought to be stopped. Still later, another dispatch from General Pleasonton, by direction of General Meade, to General French, stating that the main army is halted because it is believed the rebels are concentrating ‘on the road toward Hagerstown, beyond Fairfield,’ and is not to move until it is ascertained that the rebels intend to evacuate Cumberland Valley. / These things all appear to me to be connected with a purpose to cover Baltimore and Washington, and to get the enemy across the river again without a further collision, and they do not appear connected with a purpose to prevent his crossing and to destroy him. I do fear the former purpose is acted upon and the latter is rejected. / If you are satisfied the latter purpose is entertained and is judiciously pursued, I am content. If you are not so satisfied, please look to it…”
References:
General Order 68. Official Records, Series I, Volume 27, Part III, Reports, Serial No. 45, at http://www.civilwarhome.com/meadeorder68.htm Integrate: General George Meade, commander of the Army of the Potomac, congratulates his troops on their heroic victory. General Orders No. 68 was issued at 4:15 p.m., only hours after the cannons stopped. Meade’s message, and lack of follow-through, infuriated the President. Lincoln responded, “You know I did not like the phrase … ‘Drive the invaders from our soil,’” as he often had to point out that all of America was still “our soil” and that the goal should have been to destroy the Confederate Army, not to just push it back south. Only four copies are known of this battlefield issued first printing of the message celebrating the turning point of the war. Provenance:
The Oliver R. Barrett Lincoln Collection, Parke-Bernet auction, 1952
The Henry E. Luhrs Collection, Heritage Auction Galleries, 2-20-2006
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