nt battle field with those who had shared the action,
then fresh in their memories. Once I had the privilege of so doing in
company with Generals Johnston and Beauregard; and I will now give my
opinion of this, as I purpose doing of such subsequent actions, and
commanders therein, as came within the range of my personal experience
during the war.

Although since the days of Nimrod war has been the constant occupation
of men, the fingers of one hand suffice to number the great commanders.
The "unlearned" hardly think of usurping Tyndall's place in the lecture
room, or of taking his cuneiform bricks from Rawlinson; yet the world
has been much more prolific of learned scientists and philologers than
of able generals. Notwithstanding, the average American (and, judging
from the dictatorship of Maitre Gambetta, the Frenchman) would not have
hesitated to supersede Napoleon at Austerlitz or Nelson at Trafalgar.
True, Cleon captured the Spartan garrison, and Narses gained victories,
and Bunyan wrote the "Pilgrim's Progress;" but pestilent demagogues and
mutilated guardians of Eastern zenanas have not always been successful
in war, nor the great and useful profession of tinkers written allegory.
As men without knowledge have at all times usurped the right to
criticise campaigns and commanders, they will doubtless continue to do
so despite the protests of professional soldiers, who discharge this
duty in a reverent spirit, knowing that the greatest is he who commits
the fewest blunders.

General McDowell, the Federal commander at Manassas, and a trained
soldier of unusual acquirement, was so hounded and worried by ignorant,
impatient politicians and newspapers as to be scarcely responsible for
his acts. This may be said of all the commanders in the beginning of the
war, and notably of Albert Sidney Johnston, whose early fall on the
field of Shiloh was irreparable, and mayhap determined the fate of the
South. McDowell's plan of battle was excellent, and its execution by his
mob no worse than might have been confidently expected. The late
Governor Andrew of Massachusetts observed that his men thought they were
going to a town meeting, and this is exhaustive criticism. With soldiers
at his disposal, McDowell would have succeeded in turning and
overwhelming Beauregard's left, driving him from his rail communications
with Richmond, and preventing the junction of Johnston from the valley.
It appears that Beauregard was to some extent