The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1890-05-30

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: several occasions Grant stifsed his base by
a simple mandate to Washington 70 lodge
supplies ut Fredericksburg. at Port hoysl,
NJ the White House, at City Point. Thus
, his COMMUNICATIONS were absolutely inyul-
nerable.
With the boundless Wealth ~ his con-
troll. he laid under contribution TIE resources
OF the commerce and manufactures OF tie
world. and. combining all the ygencies OF
destruction in the vast host under his COM
fiiand, fred row with something Of his own
I smothefsd; bit relsrtlsss passion. be hurled
Y ia tepeared aid b'sciy assaults at the
oeart Of the Confederary.
The heart of the Confederacy was the
Army Of Northern Virginia.
Surely heroic courage never found more
tremendous crisis than Lee now me-
and mastered. Grant had crossed the
Rapidan. No idea Of retreat en-
tered Lees mind. He only waited
10 discover the purbose Of the enemy. Then.
with fierce energy. ne Guflnd Two corps at
the head Of his columns. not effn haiting
for LOngstreet to come up. For two days
that awful struggle ragged in the dark and
grtesomc thickets OF the wilderness. Lee
could not drive back his stubborn adyer-
sars, but he staggered and stunned and
f0iled him. Any previous commander of
the Army Of the Potomac would have re-
treated. Grant sullenly steals OF 10y night
90 SpOtsylyania.
But lion is there in his path. The road
TO Richmond j. blocked by Lee. Grants
determination TO force a passage brings on
one OF tie iiercest and most prOtracted
struggles of the war. ror four days out Of
twelve that raging fre-flOod surseJ about
the lines Of Spotsylyania. The very forest is
consumed by it-how can man Withstand
its fury? Only by that courage which, in
It's contempt of death. is "A presage of i'm
mortality. On such a field the human
spirit rises. even IN common men, to trans
cendeDt heights of yalor and seli-sacritice.
the great soul OF the commander moves
through the wild chaos like some elemental
force, and the terrible majesty Of war wells
IFS horrors.
Grant cannot take those lines.
| The solitary advantage won at the Salient
| by his overwhelming force does but dis
play on an immortal page the quick re-
source, the commanding authority, the UNI
conquerable tenacity Of the Confederate
general.
Grant could not drive him from those
| lines: but the commander Of greatly SUI
perOr army can never lind it hard to turn
| his adyersary's position, especially II by
means Of a fleet and convenient river. he
can shift his base us easily As write dis
patch
Yet Lee always OWNED every turning
movement, and always placed his army IN
| time across the path of its adversary.
| In the succession of bloody battles, ending
with the slaughter of Cold llarbor, he
everywhere won the substantial fruits as
well as the hOnOrs of victory, and between
the Wilderness and the Chickahominy, in
twenty eight DAYS. he inflicted on Grant "A
loss of 6O.0OS men--an appalling number,
equal to the strength of Lees own army AT
the beginning Of the campaign.
Try TO conceive the intense strain Of those
twenty-eight days.
Jackson is no longer by Lees side, Long
street has been stricken down severely
wounded on the first day. Suppose sim
gle moment of hesitation in the commander.
a single false Interpretation OF obscure and
conflicting appearances. II failure at any
hour Of the day or night to maintain in their
perfect balance all those high faculties.
which we see united in Leland what
would have ayaied the yalOur Of those
matchless Confederate soldiers: Can we
wonder that they loved him, can we wonder
that, like ScipiO's veterans, they were
ready 10 die for him. he would only spare
himself? Thrice i'm this campaign did they
give him this supreme proof Of personal de-
yOtiOn.
or the siege of Petersburg, | have only
time 10 say that in it for nine months the
Confederate commander displayed every
art by which genius and courage can make
good the lack of numbers and resources.
But the increasing misfortunes Of the Con-
lederate arms on other theatres Of war
gradually cut of the supply of men and
means. The Army Of Northern Virginia
ceased 10 be recruited. IL ceased to be AIDE
quately fed. II lived for months on less
than Onc-third ratiOns. II was demOraliZed,
not by the enemy in its front, but by
the enemy in Georgia and the Carolinas.
II dwindled To 5000 men, holding front
of thirty-fiye miles, but over the enemy II
still east the shadow Of its great name
Again and again, by bold offensive, it
arrested the Federal movement to fasten on
It's communications. At last, an irresistl-
Die concentration of forces broke through
its long. thin line of battle Petersburg
had to be abandoned. Richmond was eYac-
uated. Trains bearing supplies were inter
cepted, and starving army, harassed for
seven days by incessant attacks on rear ana
flank, found itself completely hemmed in by
Overwhelming masses. Nothing renamed
II il but it, stainless honor, its unbroken
courage.
In those last solemn scenes, when strong
men losing all self-cOntrol, broke down and
sObbed like children, Lee stood forth a.
great as in the days Of victory and triumph.
No disaster crushed his spirit; no eXtremi-
" OF danger rliiled hs bearing.
In the agony Of dissolution now invading
that proud army which for four years had
wrested victory from every peril, IN that
blackness Of utter darkness, he preserved
the serene lucidity Of his mind. He looked
the stubborn fact, calmly in the face. and
s.sl.f mil
he recognized the impOssibility Of making
another march or lighting another battle,
he bowed his head IN submission 10 that
Power, which makes and unmakes nations.
The surrender Of the fragments of the
Army Of Northern Virginia closed the i'm
perishable record Of his military life.
What a catastrophe. What ii moving and
pathetic contrast
ON the one side, complete and dazzling tri-
umph after a long succession of Illuminating
disasters: on the other. absolute ruin and
defeat-a crown Of thOrns for that peerless
army, which hitherto had known only the
yict0rs laurel. But the magnanimity OF the
cOnquerOr. not less than the forth
tude Of the yanqushed shone out
on the solemn scene and sOftened
its tragic Outlines Of fate and doom. The
moderation and good sense Of the Northern
people, breathing the large and generous
air of our Western world, quickly responded
to Grants example. and though the North
was afterwards betrayed into ianatical and
baleful excess on more than one great sub
ject, all the fiercer passions OF bloody
civil war were rapidly eXtinguished.
There was TO be no Poland, no Ireland in
America. When the Hollywood pyramid
was rising over the Confederate dead soon
after the close of the contest, some one sug
gested for the inscription classic verse,
which may be rendered:
"Ihey died for their cOuntry-their country
persisted with them"
Thus would have spoken the voice of de-
spair.
Far different were the thoughts Of Lee.
He had drawn his sword in obedience only
10 the dictates of duty and honor, and,
looking back in that moment Of utter de-
feat, he might have exclaimed with
Demosthenes:
II say that, if the event had been mani
fest To the whole world beforehand, not
even then ought Athens to have lorsaken
this course. if Athens had any regard for
her glory, or for her past, or for the ages TO
come
But, facing the duty Of the hour, Lee saw
now that the question submitted TO the
arbitrament Of war had been finally
answered. lie recognized that the unity Of