se the weight of his responsibilities, and
to measure the extent of his capacity, it would seem essential that
the experience of the writer should have run on parallel lines. An
ordinary soldier, therefore, who notwithstanding his lack of such
experience attempts the task, may be justly accused of something
worse than presumption. But if we were to wait for those who are
really qualified to deal with the achievements of famous captains, we
should, as a rule, remain in ignorance of the lessons of their lives,
for men of the requisite capacity are few in a generation. So the
task, if it is to be done at all, must perforce be left to those who
have less knowledge but more leisure.

In the present case, however, the mass of contemporary testimony is
so large that any initial disadvantages, I venture to think, will be
less conspicuous than they might otherwise have been. The Official
Records of the War of the Rebellion contain every dispatch, letter,
and message, public or confidential, which has been preserved; and in
the daily correspondence of the generals on both sides, together with
the voluminous reports of officers of all grades, the tale of the
campaigns is written so plain that none can fail to read. Again,
Stonewall Jackson's military career, either in full or in part, has
been narrated by more than one of his staff officers, whose
intercourse with him was necessarily close and constant; and, in
addition, the literature of the war abounds with articles and
sketches contributed by soldiers of all ranks who, at one time or
another, served under his command. It has been my privilege,
moreover, to visit the battle-fields of Virginia with men who rode by
his side when he won his victories, to hear on the spot the
description of his manoeuvres, of his bearing under fire, and of his
influence over his troops. I can thus make fairly certain that my
facts are accurate. But in endeavouring to ascertain the strength of
the armies at different periods I have been less fortunate. For the
most part I have rested on the Official Records* (* Referred to in
the text as O.R.); it is to be regretted, however, that, so far as
the Confederates are concerned, there are several gaps in the series
of returns, and I have found it extremely difficult to arrive at a
fair estimate of the approximate strength at any period within these
intervals. For instance, the numbers at Lee's disposal at the end of
August 1862 rest on the basis of a retu