Then he went west, followed by General McClellan, and at a place called Antietam the two armies met; and there was fought the bloodiest battle of the war. They kept at it all day long and neither side seemed beaten. But that night General Lee and his men waded back across the Potomac into Virginia, leaving McClellan master of the field. There was one more terrible battle in Virginia that year, in which General Burnside, who after McClellan commanded the Union army, tried to take the city of Fredericksburg, but was defeated and his men driven back with a dreadful loss of life. Both armies now rested until the spring of 1863, and then another desperate battle was fought. General Hooker had taken General Burnside's place, and thought he also must fight a battle, but he did not dare to try Fredericksburg as Burnside had done, so he marched up the river and crossed it into a rough and wild country known as the Wilderness. General Lee hurried there to meet him and the two armies came together at a place called Chancellorsville. They fought in the wild woods, where the trees in some places were so thick that the men could not see one another. But Stonewall Jackson marched to the left through the woods and made a sudden attack on the right wing of the Union army. This part of the army was taken by surprise and driven back. Hooker's men fought all that day and the next, but they could not recover from their surprise and loss, and in the end they had to cross the river back again. General Lee had won another great victory. But Stonewall Jackson was wounded and soon died, and Lee would rather have lost the battle than to lose this famous general. Do you not think the North had a right to feel very much out of heart by this time? The war had gone on for two years, and the Union army had been defeated in all the great battles fought in Virginia. The only victory won was that at Antietam in Maryland. They had been beaten at the two battles of Bull Run, the seven days' fight at Richmond, and the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, while the battle of Antietam had been won with great loss of life. But there was soon to be a victory that would make up for more than one defeat. Shortly after the fight at Chancellorsville General Lee broke camp and marched north with the greatest speed. The Union army followed as fast as they could march, for there was danger of Baltimore or even Philadelphia being taken. Both armies kept on until they reached the town of Gettysburg, in the south of Pennsylvania. Here was fought the greatest battle of the war. It lasted for three days, the 1st, 2d and 3d of July, 1863.