Edward Alfred Pollard, The lost cause; a new Southern history of the War of the Confederates ... Drawn from official sources and approved by the most distinguished Confederate leaders.

Vain! vain! Overlooking the field, Gen. Lee saw that the troops of Pettigrew's division had wavered. Another moment, and they had fallen back in confusion, exposing Pickett's division to attack both from front and flank. The courage of Virginians could do no more. Overwhelmed, almost destitute of officers, and nearly surrounded, the magnificent troops of Pickett gave way. Slowly and steadily they yielded ground, and, under the heavy fire which the artillery poured into their broken ranks, they retraced their steps across the fatal valley.

Gen. Lee was never known to betray on any battle-field a sign, either of exultation or disappointment. As he witnessed the last grand effort of his men, and saw it fail, he was seen for a moment to place his finger thoughtfully between his lips. Presently he rode quietly in front of the woods, rallying and encouraging the broken troops, uttering words of cheer and encouragement. To a foreign military officer of rank, who had come to witness the battle, he said very simply: “This has been a sad day for us, Colonel — a sad day; but we can't expect always to gain victories.” There was no dramatic circumstance about him; no harangue; but nothing could be more affecting, nothing more sublime than to witness that when this plain gentleman rode through the throng of broken troops, saying such simple words as, “Never mind,” “We'll talk of this afterwards,” “Now we want all good men to rally,” every fugitive paused, and badly wounded men took off their hats to cheer him! The Army of Northern Virginia never knew such a thing as panic. It never needed a harangue to stir its blood on a battle-field. It never had a dramatic accessory to its courage. Lee's presence alone was inspiration, order, recovery. An English colonel, who rode by the side of the great Confederate commander, remarks: “Gen. Lee and his officers were evidently fully impressed with a sense of the situation; yet there was much less noise, fuss, or confusion of orders, than at any ordinary field-day; the men, as they were rallied in the wood, were brought up in detachments, and lay down quiet and coolly in the positions assigned to them.”

The enemy did not move from his works, and the new crisis for which Gen. Lee had so quietly prepared, did not come. Night fell over the third scene of bloodshed. The Confederate loss in this frightful series of engagements exceeded ten thousand men. Some of the details of this loss exhibit instances of desperate conflict which shock the heart. In Pickett's division, out of twenty-four regimental officers only two escaped unhurt. The Ninth Virginia went in two hundred and fifty strong, and came out with only thirty-eight men. In another part of the field the Eighth Georgia rivalled this ghastly record of glory. It went into battle with thirty-two officers, out of which twenty-four were killed or wounded. The Federal