ong over this letter and he knew from his own
observation its absolute truth. The depleted South was no longer able to
feed its troops well. The abundance of the preceding autumn had quickly
passed, and in winter they were mostly on half rations.

Lee, better than any other man in the whole South, had understood what
lay before them, and his foes both of the battlefield and of the spirit
have long since done him justice. Less than a week before this eve of
mighty events he had written to a young woman in Virginia, a relative:

I dislike to send letters within reach of the enemy, as they might serve,
if captured, to bring distress on others. But you must sometimes cast
your thoughts on the Army of Northern Virginia, and never forget it in
your prayers. It is preparing for a great struggle, but I pray and trust
that the great God, mighty to deliver, will spread over it His Almighty
arms and drive its enemies before it.

Harry had seen this letter before its sending, and he was not surprised
now when Lee was sending messengers to all parts of his army. With all
the hero-worshiping quality of youth he was once more deeply grateful
that he should have served on the staffs and been brought into close
personal relations with two men, Stonewall Jackson and Lee, who seemed
to him so great. As he saw it, it was not alone military greatness but
greatness of the soul, which was greater. Both were deeply religious--
Lee, the Episcopalian, and Jackson, the Presbyterian, and it was a piety
that contained no trace of cant.

Harry felt that the crisis of the great Civil War was at hand. It had
been in the air all that day, and news had come that Grant had broken up
his camps and was crossing the Rapidan with a huge force. He knew how
small in comparison was the army that Lee could bring against him,
and yet he had supreme confidence in the military genius of his chief.

He had written a letter with which an aide had galloped away, and then he
sat at the little table in the great tent, pen in hand and ink and paper
before him, but Lee was silent. He was dressed as usual with great
neatness and care, though without ostentation. His face had its usual
serious cast, but tinged now with melancholy. Harry knew that he no
longer saw the tent and those around him. His mind dwelled for a few
moments upon his own family and the ancient home that he had loved so
well.

The interval was very brief. He was back in the present