midnight
Governor Seymour 's speech was similar in tenor , but more guarded . In words of bitter irony toward the struggling government , whose hands the peace faction were striving to paralyze , he began : `` When I accepted the invitation to speak with others , at this meeting , we were promised the downfall of Vicksburg , the opening of the Mississippi , the probable capture of the Confederate capital , and the exhaustion of the rebellion . By common consent , all parties had fixed upon this day when the results of the campaign should be known . But , in the moment of expected victory , there came a midnight cry for help from Pennsylvania , to save its despoiled fields from the invading foe ; and , almost within sight of this metropolis , the ships of your merchants were burned to the water 's edge . Parties are exasperated and stand in almost defiant attitude toward each other . '' `` At the very hour , '' writes the historian Lossing , `` when this ungenerous taunt was uttered , Vicksburg and its dependences and vast spoils , with more than thirty thousand Confederate captives , were in the possession of General Grant ; and the discomfited army of Lee , who , when that sentence was written , was expected to lead his troops victoriously to the Delaware , and perhaps to the Hudson , was flying from Meade 's troops , to find shelter from utter destruction beyond the Potomac . '' Rarely has history reached a more dramatic climax , and seldom have the great scenes of men 's actions been more swiftly shifted .