Lee had already
been marching thirteen days toward Gettysburg, and he seemed unbeatable.
Grant, who had won for the North about all the real success of which it
could yet boast, was lost somewhere in the Southern wilderness. The
messages seeking him ran to the end of the telegraph wires and no answer
came back. The click of the key could not reach him. Many a spirit,
bold at most times, despaired of the Union.
But the old and hackneyed saying about the darkest hour just before the
dawn was never more true. The flame of success was already lighted in
the far South, and Lincoln was soon to receive the message, telling him
that Grant had not disappeared in the wilderness for nothing. Thereafter
he was to trust the silent and tenacious general through everything.
They were up and away at dawn. Dick was glad enough to leave the hill,
on which many of the dead yet lay unburied, and he was eager for the new
field of conflict, which he was sure would be before Vicksburg. Warner
and Pennington were as sanguine as he. Grant was now inspiring in them
the confidence that Lee and Jackson inspired in their young officers.
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