Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 27.djvu/349

 Rh Winfield Scott offered him in important post in the army. Like other great soldiers of history, General Thomas yielded to a woman. General Maury always said Virginia lost an able and a brave commander when Thomas refused to draw his sword for her.

General Maury's ride from Santa Fè to St. Louis was not fraught with special incidents, though at every army post he expected to be arrested. He had to spend a night in St. Louis, and did so with trepidation, but was not molested. Still, he did not feel easy until he reached Louisville. He reached Richmond on the 19th of June, 1861. He reported to Governor Letcher within an hour after his arrival, and to General Robert E. Lee, commanding the Virginia forces. General Maury has often remarked upon being much depressed by the exceedingly grave aspect which General Lee wore. General Maury was appointed colonel of cavalry in the Virginia forces upon the day of his arrival in Richmond, and the same day was commissioned a captain of the regular Confederate cavalry, and a lieutenant-colonel in the provisional army. He was given leave to go to see his people, at Fredericksburg. The Sunday he spent there he could hear all day the cannonading at Manassas. He took the first train for Richmond. He has more than once remarked that he expected his wife and old mother to try to hinder him from going into battle. But he never had any more anxiety after that Sunday. Their sole fear seemed to be that he would be too late for the fight. The day he reached Richmond he received an order from General Lee to report to General Joseph E. Johnston at Manassas, and he hastened thither.

General Maury 's career in the Confederate army is history. The niche assigned him in the temple of fame is a high one. It is in more than one respect unique. A distinguished soldier of the Confederacy remarked to the writer recently, that had General Maury achieved in the East the things which he achieved in the Army of the West, his final rank would have been higher and his fame greater.

As it is, he is known to the student of Confederate history as one of the bravest, one of the most skillful, and one of the hardest fight-