ly. Shoeless, in rags,
with just sufficient coarse food to sustain life, but never enough
to keep at arm's-length the gnawing fiend Hunger, Lee's old veterans
remained firm, scattered like a thin skirmish-line along forty miles
of works; while opposite them lay an enemy in the highest state of
efficiency, and numbering nearly five men to their one. That the
soldiers of the army retained their nerve under circumstances so
discouraging is surely an honorable fact, and will make their names
glorious in history. They remained unshaken and fought undismayed to
the last, although their courage was subjected to trials of the most
exhausting character. Day and night, for month after month, the
incessant fire of the Federal forces had continued, and every engine
of human destruction had been put in play to wear away their strength.
They fought all through the cheerless days of winter, and, when they
lay down in the cold trenches at night, the shell of the Federal
mortars rained down upon them, bursting, and mortally wounding them.
All day long the fire of muskets and cannon--then, from sunset to
dawn, the curving fire of the roaring mortars, and the steady,
never-ceasing crack of the sharp-shooters along the front. Snow, or
blinding sleet, or freezing rains, might be falling, but the fire went
on--it seemed destined to go on to all eternity.

In March, 1865 however, the end was approaching, and General Lee
must have felt that all was lost. His last hope had been the retreat
southward in the month of February. That hope had been taken from
him; the result was at hand; and his private correspondence, if he
intrusted to paper his views of the situation, will probably show that
from that moment he gave up all anticipation of success, and prepared
to do his simple duty as a soldier, leaving the issue of affairs
to Providence. Whatever may have been his emotions, they were not
reflected in his countenance. The same august composure which had
accompanied him in his previous campaigns remained with him still, and
cheered the fainting hearts around him. To the 2d of April, and even
up to the end, this remarkable calmness continued nearly unchanged,
and we can offer no explanation of a circumstance so astonishing, save
that which we have already given in a preceding chapter.

XIII.

LEE ATTACKS THE FEDERAL CENTRE.

General Lee became aware, as the end of March drew near, that
preparations were being made in the Federal army f