Amateurs talk about strategy, but professional officers talk about logistics. After 200,000 soldiers engaged in battle over three days, it was now time for the Army of Northern Virginia to escape back to the South. Battered, wounded, and exhausted, retreat would be no easy task with Union cavalry in pursuit. General Lee would read the maps, and hope for luck. And what about the mess left behind for the civilians of Gettysburg to clean up? 1863 was a devestating year for Adams County.