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Mead Congratulates Army Signed Document The only known copy of the first report of victory at Gettys

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:30,000.00 - 50,000.00 USD
Mead Congratulates Army Signed Document The only known copy of the first report of victory at Gettys
<B>The only known copy of the first report of victory at Gettysburg -- Meade congratulates his army, July 4, 1863</B></I> (George Meade) (1815-1872) Union Major General in the Civil War, fine content printed Document, one page, 5.5" x 61", "<I>Head Quarters Army of the Potomac</B></I>" [Gettysburg, Pennsylvania], July 4, 1863, a rare copy of General Order 68 congratulating Union forces on their hard-won victory at Gettysburg. The document reads: "<I>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 Utterly baffled and defeated, he has now withdrawn from the contest.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, an 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.</B></I>" This broadside is a "Holy Grail" of Civil War collecting as it is the only example known to remain extant. It also represents the earliest printed report on the victory at Gettysburg. A supreme rarity from the battle that changed American history, a cornerstone document. From the Henry E. Luhrs Collection.