us had left them a
confident host. Twice he entered the Northern States at the head of
a successful army, and twice indecisive battles alone preserved from
destruction the Federal Government, and turned the fortune of the war.
He impressed his character on those who acted under him. Ambition for
him had no charms, duty alone was his guide. His simplicity of life
checked luxury and display among his officers, while his disregard of
hardships silenced the murmurs of his harassed soldiery. By the troops
he was loved as a father, as well as admired as a general; and his
deeply-religious character impressed itself on all who were brought
in contact with him, and made itself felt through the ranks of the
Virginian army. It is said that, during four years of war, he never
slept in a house, but in winter and summer shared the hardships of his
soldiers. Such was the man who, in mature age, at a period of life
when few generals have acquired renown, fought against overwhelming
odds for the cause which he believed just. He saw many of his bravest
generals and dearest friends fall around him, but, although constantly
exposed to fire, escaped without a wound.

"The battles which prolonged and finally decided the issue of the
contest are now little more than names. Antietam, Fredericksburg,
Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, are forgotten in Europe by all
excepting those who study recent wars as lessons for the future, and
would collect from the deeds of other armies experience which they
may apply to their own. To them the boldness of Lee's tactics at
Chancellorsville will ever be a subject of admiration; while even
those who least sympathize with his cause will feel for the general
who saw the repulse of Longstreet's charge at Gettysburg, and beheld
the failure of an attempt to convert a defensive war into one of
attack, together with the consequent abandonment of the bold stroke
which he had hoped would terminate the contest. Quietly he rallied
the broken troops; taking all the blame on himself, he encouraged
the officers, dispirited by the reverse, and in person formed up the
scattered detachments. Again, when Fortune had turned against the
Confederacy, when overwhelming forces from all sides pressed back
her defenders, Lee for a year held his ground with a
constantly-diminishing army, fighting battle after battle in the
forests and swamps around Richmond. No reverses seemed to dispirit
him, no misfortune appeared to ruffle his c