“However, for Meade that meant 25% of his army and for Lee that meant 33% of his army. “
I don’t think that the magnitude of the loss was apparent until months later, at the time it was considered by the Confederacy “Tough day for us, we’ll get them next time.” Was it Shelby Foote who said that like the Japanese after Midway there was no more victory, just different degrees of losing?
That may have been Anderson, Hill and Lee's view, but probably not Longstreet's. He was not happy with the way the Second Day went at all, obviously, and saw the writing on the wall.
Was it Shelby Foote who said that like the Japanese after Midway there was no more victory, just different degrees of losing?
I think it was Foote.
I think the main thing is that Lee would never command a force of over 70,000 effectives again as he did the day Gettysburg began, while Meade ended the battle with 70,000 effectives and his successor - thanks to the victory at Gettysburg and the increased enlistments it inspired - would spend the rest of the war outnumbering Lee almost 2 to 1.