At the beginning of the war no matter who was leader the long campaigns
in Virginia ended in failure for the Federals. On the Confederate
side these campaigns were led first by Joseph E. Johnston, and then
by the great soldier, Robert E. Lee.
Lee came of a soldier stock, being the youngest son of "Light Horse
Harry Lee," who had won fame during the War of the Revolution. He
was a noble, Christian gentleman, and when he made his choice, and
determined to fight for the South, he believed he was fighting for
the right.
With Lee was Stonewall Jackson, his great "right hand," and perhaps
a finer soldier than Lee himself. His men adored him as they adored
no other leader. Like Cromwell he taught them to pray as well as
to fight. He never went into battle without commending his way to
God, and when he knelt long in prayer his men might feel certain that
a great fight was coming. He was secret and swift in his movements,
so swift that his troops were nicknamed "Jackson's foot cavalry."
Yet he never wore his men out. He thought for them always, and
however urgent haste might be he called frequent halts on his flying
marches, and made the men lie down even if it were only for a few
minutes.
To conquer such leaders, and the men devoted to them, was no easy
matter, and it was not wonderful that the campaigns in Virginia
marked few successes for the Federals.
Pages:
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642