THE CONFEDERATE RETREAT FROM GETTYSBURG.

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grass under a tree, lie spoke, reined in his jaded horse, and essayed to dis-mount. The effort to do so betrayed so much physical exhaustion that Ihurriedly rose and stepped forward to assist him, but before I reached hisside he had succeeded in alighting, and threw his arm across the saddle torest, and fixing his eyes upon the ground leaned in silence and almost motion-less upon his equally weary horse,-—the two forming a striking and never-to-be-forgotten group. The moon shone full upon his massive features andrevealed an expression of sadness that I had never before seen upon his face.Awed by his appearance I waited for him to speak until the silence becameembarrassing, when, to break it and change the silent current of histhoughts, I ventured to remark, in a sympathetic tone, and in allusion tohis great fatigue:

“ General, this has been a hard day on you.”

He looked up, and replied mournfully:

“ Yes, it has been a sad, sad day to us,” and immediately relapsed into histhoughtful mood and attitude. Being unwilling again to intrude upon hisreflections, I said no more. After perhaps a minute or two, he suddenlystraightened up to his full height, and turning to me with more animationand excitement of manner than I had ever seen in him before, for he was aman of wonderful equanimity, he said in a voice tremulous with emotion:

“ I never saw troops behave more magnificently than Pickett’s division ofVirginians did to-day in that grand charge upon the enemy. And if theyhad been supported as they were to have been,— but, for some reason not yetfully explained to me, were not,— we would have held the position and theday would have been ours.” After a moment’s pause he added in a loudvoice, in a tone almost of agony, “Too bad! Too bad! Oh! Too bad!”J

I shall never forget his language, his manner, and his appearance of mentalsuffering. I11 a few moments all emotion was suppressed, and he spoke feel-ingly of several of his fallen and trusted officers; among others of Brigadier-Generals Armistead, Garnett, and Kemper of Pickett’s division. He invitedme into his tent, and as soon as we were seated he remarked:

J Of interest in this connection is a letter writtenby General Lee to Mr. Davis from Camp Orangeon the 8th of August, 1863, and first printed in(< A Piece of Secret History,” by Colonel C. C.Jones, Jr., in “ The Century” (old series) for Feb-ruary, 1876. In this letter General Lee speaksin the highest -terms of his army, and says, inpart:

“ . . . We must expect reverses, even defeats. Theyare sent to teach us wisdom and prudence, to call forthgreater energies, and to prevent our falling into greaterdisasters. Our people have only to he true and united,to boar manfully the misfortunes incident to war, and& ll will come right in the end.

“I know how prone we are to censure, and how readyhlame others for the nonfulfillment of our expecta-tions. This is unbecoming in a generous people, and Igrieve to see its expression. The general remedy forthe want of success in a military commander is hisRemoval. This is natural, and in many instances proper.. °r, no matter what may be the ability of the officer,he loses the confidence of his troops, disaster mustsooner or later ensue.

“ I have been prompted by these reflections more thanonce since my return from Penna. to propose to yourExc’y the propriety of selecting another commander forthis army. I have seen and heard of expressions of dis-content in the public journals at the result of the expe-dition. I do not know how far this feeling extends inthe army. My brother officers have been too kind to re-port it, and so far the troops have been too generous toexhibit it. It is fair, however, to suppose that it doesexist, and success is so necessary to us that nothingshould be risked to secure it. I therefore, in all sincer-ity, request your Exc’y to take measures to supply myplace. I do this with the more earnestness because noone is more aware than myself of my inability for theduties of my position. I cannot even accomplish whatI myself desire. How can I fulfill the expectations ofothers 1 . . .

“ I have 110 complaints to make of any one but myself.I have received nothing but kindness from those aboveme, and the most considerate attention from my com-rades and companions in arms. To your Excellency Iam specially indebted for uniform kindness and consid-eration. You have done everything in your power to aidmein the work committed to my charge, without omit-ting anything to promote the general welfare, . . .”