eneral Lee, who
had just been appointed "General-in-Chief"--having thus imposed upon
him the mockery of a rank no longer of any value--saw the armies of
the enemy closing in upon him, and did not deceive himself with the
empty hope that he could longer hold his lines at Petersburg. The
country, oppressed as it was, and laboring under a sentiment akin
to despair, still retained in almost undiminished measure its
superstitious confidence in him; but he himself saw clearly the
desperate character of the situation. General Grant was in his front
with a force of about one hundred and fifty thousand men, and General
Sherman was about to enter Virginia with an army of about the same
numbers. Lee's force at Petersburg was a little over thirty thousand
men--that of Johnston was not so great, and was detained by Sherman.
Under these circumstances, it was obviously only a question of time
when the Army of Northern Virginia would be overwhelmed. In February,
1865, these facts were perfectly apparent to General Lee: but one
course was left to him--to retreat from Virginia; and he promptly
began that movement in the latter part of the month, ordering his
trains to Amelia Court-House, and directing pontoons to be got ready
at Roanoke River. His aim was simple--to unite his army with that of
General Johnston, and retreat into the Gulf States. In the mountains
of Virginia he could carry on the war, he had said, for twenty years;
in the fertile regions of the South he might expect to prolong
hostilities, or at least make favorable terms of peace--which would be
better than to remain in Virginia until he was completely surrounded,
and an unconditional submission would alone be left him.

It will probably remain a subject of regret to military students, that
Lee was not permitted to carry out this retreat into the Gulf States.
The movement was arrested after a consultation with the civil
authorities at Richmond. Upon what grounds a course so obviously
necessary was opposed, the present writer is unable to declare.
Whatever the considerations, Lee yielded his judgment; the movement
suddenly stopped; and the Army of Northern Virginia--if a skeleton can
be called such--remained to await its fate.

The condition of the army in which "companies" scarce existed,
"regiments" were counted by tens, and "divisions" by hundreds only,
need not here be elaborately dwelt upon. It was indeed the phantom of
an army, and the gaunt faces were almost ghost