gentleness and kindness of General Lee was seen also in his fondness
for animals. When the war was over his iron-gray horse, Traveller, which
had been his faithful companion throughout the struggle, was very dear to
him. Often, when entering the gate on returning to his house, he would
turn aside to stroke the noble creature, and often the two wandered forth
into the mountains, companions to the last.

Within a year after the close of the war General Lee was elected President
of Washington College, at Lexington, Virginia--now called Washington and
Lee University. There he remained until his death, in 1870. His
countrymen, in all sections of the Union, think of him as a distinguished
general and a high-minded gentleman.

Three years after the close of the war (1868) General Grant was elected
President of the United States and served two terms. Upon retiring from
the presidency, he made a tour around the world, a more unusual thing in
those days than now. He was everywhere received, by rulers and people
alike, with marked honor and distinction.

His last days were full of suffering from an illness which proved a worse
enemy than ever he had found on the field of battle. After nine months of
brave struggle, he died on July 23, 1885. Undoubtedly he was one of the
ablest generals of history.

The war, in which these two distinguished commanders had led opposing
sides, had cost the nation not only thousands of men, the vast majority in
the prime of their young manhood, but millions of dollars. But it had two
striking results: it preserved the Union, for it was now clear that no
State could secede at will; and it put an end to slavery. The Emancipation
Proclamation had set free only those slaves in the States and parts of
States which were under the control of Union armies; but after the war the
Thirteenth Amendment set free all the slaves in all the States in the
Union for all time. These were the benefits purchased by the terrible
sacrifice of life.

If we count those who were slain on the field of battle and those who died
from wounds, disease, and suffering in wretched prisons, the loss of men
was equal to seven hundred a day during the four long years of the war.

When it was over, a wave of intense relief swept over the country. In many
homes were glad reunions; in others, saddened memories. But at least a
united nation was cause for a new hope, and a patriotism which in time was
to bind all sections into closer un