were watched. Gaps and junctions were contested
unto death; obscure towns gained historic names and bloody memories; and
each familiar court-house and village came to be identified with
valorous achievements or sanguinary disaster.

And this land of promise, this region which so long witnessed the
extremes of political magnanimity and turpitude, this arena where the
vital question of labor, as modified by involuntary servitude, and free
activity, found its most practical solution--was, and is, legitimately,
appropriately, and naturally, the scene of the fiercest strife for
national existence--where the claims and the climax of freedom and faith
culminated in all the desolation of civil war. A more difficult country
for military operations can scarcely be imagined. Early in the struggle
it was truly said:

'Virginia is the Switzerland of the continent--a battle field every
three miles--a range of hills streaming where Hill may retire five
miles by five miles till he reaches Richmond--a conquest,
undoubtedly, if the North perseveres, but won at such a cost and
with such time as to prolong unnecessarily the struggle. The
Richmond of the South lies in the two millions of blacks that are
within the reach of cannon of our gunboats in the rivers that empty
into the Gulf.'

How wearisome the delays and how constant the privations of the army of
occupation in such a region, wrote an experienced observer:

'Dwelling in huts, surrounded by a sea of mud, may appear to be
very romantic--on paper--to some folks, but the romance of this
kind of existence with the soldiers soon wears away, and to them
any change must necessarily be for the better; they therefore hail
with delight, as a positive relief, the opportunity once more to
practise their drill which the recent change of weather has
afforded them. For the last three months, the time of the soldier
has passed heavily enough, with the long winter nights, and little
else to relieve the monotony of his life but stereotyped guard
duty.'

It would require volumes to describe the ravages of war in Virginia: let
a few pictures, selected from sketches made on the spot, indicate the
melancholy aspect of a domain, a few weeks or months before smiling in
peace and productiveness. The following facetious but faithful
statement, though confined to a special, applies to many districts:

'The o