Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 1.djvu/682

640 well as to the Confederate means of defense, and was in readiness to assume any duty that might be assigned.

The severe wounding of General J. E. Johnston, at the battle of Seven Pines, and the illness of General G. W. Smith, next in rank, brought to him the command of the army of Northern Virginia, which he immediately led to successive victories over the great armies of McClellan, Pope, Burnside and Hooker, attaining for himself, in a few months, a fame for generalship which spread over the world.

His subsequent career throughout the Confederate struggle was distinguished by his regard for the humane usages of war; his exhibition of great military skill; a spirited personal courage, as well as that nerve of leader ship that impelled him to give battle whenever he saw an opportunity to strike an effective blow; a courteous bearing toward his officers and a tender concern for the welfare of the men in line; an untiring attention to details and an unexcelled devotion to duty. All these characteristics and much more were made apparent as the war wore on to its disastrous end.

The details which establish his reputation as a military genius are to be found in all the books which have been written on the Confederate war. Referring to them for special information we pass on to see him at Appomattox, nobly yielding himself and his army when resistance was no longer possible, and then departing for his home, to refuse offers of place that would bring profit and high civil position, and finally turning his glorious life into channels of beneficent influence.

With clear insight into all the merits of the cause for which he drew his sword in 1861, he wrote on January 5, 1866: "All that the South has ever desired was that the Union as established by our fathers should be preserved, and that the government as originally organized should be administered in purity and truth. Six months later he wrote: "I had no other guide, nor had I any other