July 21, 1863---The greatest mistake Meade never made.

JULY 21, 1863:            

Union forces continue to harry the Rebels retreating from Gettysburg. Although the Confederate army is too enervated to turn and fight, General George Meade, commanding the Army of the Potomac, stubbornly refuses to engage Robert E. Lee in a major battle. This angers President Lincoln, who, recalling General McClellan’s inaction for weeks after Antietam, is convinced that Meade is the same sort, unwilling to strike a decisive blow. However, some historians have been kinder to Meade, saying that a major pursuit was “the greatest mistake Meade never made” as the army’s commander. Lincoln was not present on the field; Meade was, and Meade knew just how battered his army really was. Bad weather after July 3^rd would have turned any pursuit into a Mud March. He had had to send lightly wounded men to New York to quell the Draft Riots for the simple reason that he had no unwounded men to send. Having been in command only a week he had had no time to establish a chain of command, and what chain of command there had been had been broken at Gettysburg. Had Meade engaged the Army of Northern Virginia with his bruised force, it is quite possible that that equally bruised Rebel force might have turned at bay, and found the strength for one more good fight. Even a minor Confederate success in the shadow of Gettysburg would have damaged Northern morale and inflated Southern morale correspondingly.  By limiting his army to harassing actions, Meade allowed his troops to regroup even as he kept the retreating Confederates off balance.