Did the south retreat in the battle of gettysburg?
One of the more valid criticisms of the Confederates and the Gettysburg campaign was that the whole episode was really not an invasion – it was a gigantic raid. There was no intention of remaining north of the Potomac when the Rebels set out northward. The Rebels had only the most tenuous of supply lines back to their territory, by wagon north from the Potomac. When the Union army concentrated against them, the Rebels would be forced to concentrate too, which would mean that there would be no chance to disperse the army over the Pennsylvania countryside and rob the farmers of food to feed the army (a practice called “foraging”). This is what happened at Gettysburg. After three days fighting the Confederates were out of artillery ammunition and low on supplies of all kinds, and this was a foreseeable result of going into the north. So, the Confederates would not be able to stay in the north, and they knew it. And when they left, to go back to Virginia, it was going to look like a retrea
