Beginning of Essay
is arguably the Army of the Potomac's only great victory on the battlefield. Army of the Potomac's did, of course, eventually force Lee's Army of Northern Virginia (ANV) from its impregnable Petersburg trenches. But Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse final ....

Middle of Essay
.... look to the other side of the equation and ask why Meade and the AOP won. What circumstances changed to enable the AOP to transform a long string of defeats into a great victory? The odds were certainly against them in many ways. The AOP had become accustomed to losing a dangerous thing for any military unit where life and death depends, to a large degree, on the confidence of its officers and troops. Fresh from two devastating defeats within the past six months, the AOP was chasing a seemingly invincible fighting machine. A machine with the confidence, and the leadership, to continue its winning ways. To heighten the odds against the blue underdo ....