d been appointed a
Brigadier General by the President of the United States but had declined
the honor.

For four years as Secretary of War in the Cabinet of Franklin Pierce he
had proven himself a master of military administration, had reorganized
and placed on a modern basis of the highest efficiency the army of the
Union and in this work has proven himself a terror to weakness,
tradition and corruption.

He knew personally every officer of the first rank in the United States
Army. His judgment of these men and their ability as commanders was
marvelous in its accuracy. His genius as an army administrator
undoubtedly gave to the South her first advantage in the opening of the
conflict.

From the men who had resigned from the old army to cast their fortunes
with the South his keen eye selected without hesitation the three men
for supreme command whose abilities had no equal in America for the
positions to which they were assigned. And these three men were patriots
of such singleness of purpose, breadth of vision and greatness of soul
that neither of them knew he was being considered for the highest
command until handed his commission.

Samuel Cooper had been Adjutant General of the United States Army since
1852. Davis knew his record of stern discipline and uncompromising
efficiency, and although a man of Northern birth, he appointed him
Adjutant General of the Confederate Army without a moment's hesitation.

Albert Sidney Johnston was his second appointment to the rank of full
General and Robert E. Lee his third--each destined to immortality.

His fourth nomination for the rank of full General he made with
hesitation. Joseph E. Johnston under the terms of the law passed by the
Provisional Congress of the Confederacy was entitled to a position in
the first rank as acting Commissary General of the old army. The keen
intuition of the President had perceived from the first the evidences of
hesitation and of timidity in crisis which was the chief characteristic
of Joseph E. Johnston. His sense of fairness under the terms of the law
required that this man be given his chance. With misgivings but with
high hopes the appointment was made.

Robert E. Lee he made military chieftain of the Government with
headquarters in Richmond.

From four points the Northern forces were threatening the South. From
the West by a flanking movement which might open the Mississippi River;
from the mountains of Western Virginia whose peopl