d by General
McClellan's language to attribute blame to General Hill where he
deserved none.]

Whatever may have been the secret history of the "lost dispatch,"
however, it certainly fell into General McClellan's hands, and largely
directed the subsequent movements of the opposing armies.

From what is here written, it will be seen that Lee was not justly
chargeable with the result of the Maryland campaign. He had provided
for every thing as far as lay in his power. Had he not been
disappointed in events to be fairly anticipated, it seemed his force
would have received large accessions, his rear would have closed up,
and the advance into Pennsylvania would have taken place. Instead
of this, he was forced to retire and fight a pitched battle at
Sharpsburg; and this action certainly exhibited on Lee's part military
ability of the highest order. The force opposed to him had been at
least double that of his own army, and the Federal troops had fought
with a gallantry unsurpassed in any other engagement of the war. That
their assault on Lee failed, was due to the fighting qualities of his
troops and his own generalship. His army had been manoeuvred with a
rapidity and precision which must have excited even the admiration of
the distinguished soldier opposed to him. He had promptly concentrated
his forces opposite every threatened point in turn, and if he had not
been able to carry out the axiom of Napoleon, that a commander should
always be superior to the enemy at the point of contact, he had at
least done all that was possible to effect that end, and had so far
succeeded as to have repulsed if not routed his adversary. This is
the main feature to be noticed in Lee's handling of his troops at
Sharpsburg. An unwary or inactive commander would have there suffered
decisive defeat, for the Confederate left wing numbered, throughout
the early part of the battle, scarcely more than four thousand men,
while the column directed against it amounted first to eighteen
thousand, and in all to forty thousand men. To meet the impact of
this heavy mass, not only desperate fighting, but rapid and skilful
manoeuvring, was necessary. The record we have presented will enable
the reader to form his own opinion whether Lee was equal to this
emergency involving the fate of his army.

Military critics, examining this great battle with fair and candid
eyes, will not fail, we think, to discern the truth. That the Southern
army, of less than for