making his dwelling with the wild asses, but in the end
"thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known
that the heavens do rule."

Again the organ rang, and the wonderful voice of the choristers
alternated with deep religious prayers, whose refrain was, "Have mercy
upon us."

Only one Sunday gone by, the church was densely packed with Rebel
officers and people; Mrs. Lee was there, and the president, in his high
and whitened hairs. Midway of the discourse a telegram came up the
aisle, borne by a rapid orderly. The president read it, and strode away;
the preacher read it, and faltered, and turned pale; it said:

My lines are broken; Richmond must be evacuated by midnight.
ROBERT E. LEE.

Ill news travels without words; the whole house felt that the great
calamity had come; they broke for the doors, and left the rector, alone
and frightened, to finish the solemn services.

Now the enemy is here; the music and the prayer are not interrupted. God
is over all, whether Davis or Lincoln be uppermost.

This campaign, so gloriously and promptly finished, has consumed just
eleven days. It took three to flank the Rebel army, one to capture
Petersburg, one to occupy Richmond, and six to pursue, overtake, and
capture the Army of Northern Virginia. No such memorable fighting has
ever been known on our continent, and it parallels the Italian, the
Austerlitz, and the Jena campaigns; in breadth of conception, it
outrivals them all; it took less men to do it than the last two; it
shows equal sagacity with any of them, but none of their brilliant
episodes; and, unlike them, we cannot trace its full credit to any
single personality. It has made the army immortal, but the lustre of it
is diffused, not concentrating upon any single head. Grant must be
credited with most of the combinations; yet without the genius and
activity of Sheridan, the bewildering rapidity of Sherman, and the
steadfastness of such reliable men as Wright, Parke, and Griffin, these
combinations would have fallen apart. It is said that Stoneman and
Sheridan were to have joined their separate cavalry commands at
Lynchburg, and effect a simultaneous junction with the Army of the
Potomac. This failed, through a miscalculation of distance or time; but
had they succeeded, we should have been less than three days in turning
Lee's right, and so made the campaign even more concise. But Grant's