rform his duty to the last, and to shape his conduct,
under whatever pressure of disaster, upon the two maxims, "Do your
duty," and "Human virtue should be equal to human calamity."

There is little reason to doubt that General Lee saw this "calamity"
coming, for the effort to reenforce his small army with fresh levies
seemed hopeless. The reasons for this unfortunate state of things must
be sought elsewhere. The unfortunate fact will be stated, without
comment, that, while the Federal army was regularly and largely
reenforced, so that its numbers at no time fell below one hundred
and fifty thousand men. Lee's entire force at Petersburg at no time
reached sixty thousand, and in the spring of 1865, when he still
continued to hold his long line of defences, numbered scarcely half
of sixty thousand. This was the primary cause of the failure of the
struggle. General Grant's immense hammer continued to beat upon his
adversary, wearing away his strength day by day. No new troops arrived
to take the places of those who had fallen; and General Lee saw,
drawing closer and closer, the inevitable hour when, driven from his
works, or with the Federal army upon his communications, he must cut
his way southward or surrender.

A last circumstance in reference to General Lee's position at this
time should be stated; the fact that, from the autumn of 1864 to the
end in the spring of 1865, he was felt by the country and the army to
be the sole hope of the Confederacy. To him alone now all men
looked as the _deus ex machina_ to extricate them from the dangers
surrounding them. This sentiment needed no expression in words. It was
seen in the faces and the very tones of voice of all. Old men visited
him, and begged him with faltering voices not to expose himself, for,
if he were killed, all would be lost. The troops followed him with
their eyes, or their cheers, whenever he appeared, feeling a singular
sense of confidence from the presence of the gray-haired soldier in
his plain uniform, and assured that, as long as Lee led them, the
cause was safe. All classes of the people thus regarded the fate
of the Confederacy as resting, not partially, but solely, upon the
shoulders of Lee; and, although he was not entitled by his rank in the
service to direct operations in other quarters than Virginia, there
was a very general desire that the whole conduct of the war everywhere
should be intrusted to his hands. This was done, as will be seen,
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