Gettysburg was the Army of the Potomac's only great victory on the battlefield. Antietam, certainly a strategic victory, showed Robert E. Lee's unstoppable killing machine was indeed stoppable. And the Army of the Potomac did eventually force Lee's Army of Northern Virginia from its impregnable Petersburg trenches. But Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse finally came when the Rebel army was so weakened that surrender was almost a foregone conclusion. Such Union victories as the ones …showed first 75 words of 1985 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1985 total…and brigades, to regiments and companies, and to individuals who fought the fight of their lives, goes the credit for saving the Union at Gettysburg. Decisive, and correct, decisions were made and properly executed throughout the three days. When events looked bleakest, it was Federal skill and daring that saved the day, and the country. The Army of Northern Virginia did not lose the momentous Battle of Gettysburg. The Army of the Potomac won it.