round us
with considerable frequency.

Notwithstanding the misfortune which had so suddenly befallen him,
General Lee seemed to observe everything, however trivial. When a
mounted officer began licking his horse for shying at the bursting of a
shell, he called out, "Don't whip him, Captain; don't whip him. I've got
just such another foolish horse myself, and whipping does no good."

I happened to see a man lying flat on his face in a small ditch, and I
remarked that I didn't think he seemed dead; this drew General Lee's
attention to the man, who commenced groaning dismally. Finding appeals
to his patriotism of no avail, General Lee had him ignominiously set on
his legs by some neighbouring gunners.

I saw General Willcox (an officer who wears a short round jacket and a
battered straw hat) come up to him, and explain; almost crying, the
state of his brigade. General Lee immediately shook hands with him and
said, cheerfully, "Never mind, General, _all this has been_ MY
_fault_--it is _I_ that have lost this fight, and you must help me out
of it in the best way you can." In this manner I saw General Lee
encourage and reanimate his somewhat dispirited troops, and
magnanimously take upon his own shoulders the whole weight of the
repulse. It was impossible to look at him or to listen to him without
feeling the strongest admiration, and I never saw any man fail him
except the man in the ditch.

It is difficult to exaggerate the critical state of affairs as they
appeared about this time. If the enemy or their general had shown any
enterprise, there is no saying what might have happened. General Lee and
his officers were evidently fully impressed with a sense of the
situation; yet there was much less noise, fuss, or confusion of orders
than at an ordinary field-day: the men, as they were rallied in the
wood, were brought up in detachments, and lay down quietly and coolly in
the positions assigned to them.

We heard that Generals Garnett and Armistead were killed, and General
Kemper mortally wounded; also, that Pickett's division had only one
field-officer unhurt. Nearly all this slaughter took place in an open
space about one mile square, and within one hour.

At 6 P.M. we heard a long and continuous Yankee cheer, which we at
first imagined was an indication of an advance; but it turned out to be
their reception of a general officer, whom we saw riding down the line,
followed by about thirty horsemen. Soon afterwards I r