e fair and fertile
fields witnessed the rout of the national forces; so often had the
armies of the Union marched proudly up the white and dusty turnpike,
only to come flying back in disorder and disgrace. With the same
rough humor of the soldier, half in grim jest, half in sad earnest,
yet always with a grain of hard sense lying at the bottom, the
Union veterans had re-named as _Harper's Weekly_ the picturesque
landscape that appeared to them so regularly; and Lee's annual
invasion of the country beyond the Potomac had come to be known
among them as the Summer Excursion and Picnic into Maryland.

To mete out the blame for this state of things; to apportion the
precise share of the mortifying result due to each one of several
contributing causes; to show how much should be ascribed to division
and subdivision of councils; how much to the unfitness of commanders,
too often disqualified alike by nature and training, for the
leadership of men in emergencies, or even for their temporary
profession, and in truth owing their commissions, in Halleck's
phrase, to "reasons other than military;" and how much finally to
a dense ignorance or a fine disregard of the very elements and
first principles of the art of war; all this lies outside the scope
of this history, curious, entertaining, and instructive though the
inquiry would be. Certain it is that at no period was the problem
at once comprehended and controlled until Grant took it in hand,
and equally so that the work was never done until he confided it
to Sheridan. To this, in fairness, must be added three considerations
of great moment. No commander had previously enjoyed the undivided
confidence of the government as Grant did at this period; the
relations between Grant and Sheridan were those of perfect trust
and harmony; and the Army of the Shenandoah was for the first time
made strong enough for its work. Moreover, though Early was a good
and useful general, and was soon to prove himself the master of
resources and resolution equal to the occasion, he was not Jackson;
and even had he been, no second Jackson could ever have fallen heir
to the prestige of the first.

The parallel ranges of the Blue Ridge, extending from the
head-waters of the James to the Susquehanna in mid-course, presented
peculiar strategic conditions of which the Confederates were as
quick as the government of the United States was slow to take
advantage. Rising in the southwest, the twin forks