That Vast Procession of Misery: Lee's Wounded Retreat from Gettysburg

When the Battle of Gettysburg ended, Robert E. Lee was faced with the problem of getting his wounded back to Virginia. Some were prisoners of the Yankees, others were out of Lee's reach, and a few would die if moved and thus were left behind. But two wagon trains pulled out in a pounding rain on the Fourth of July in 1863 carrying eight thousand Confederate wounded in a race to reach the Potomac River.