Alfred Roman, The military operations of General Beauregard in the war between the states, 1861 to 1865

[129] reputation is a commendable trait, which should ever be admired among men; but the First Magistrate of a free people, and Commander-in-Chief of their armies, is not a man, in the ordinary sense of the word: he must be more guarded in his encomiums of a friend; he cannot be allowed to give rein to his likes or dislikes; his eye, ever keen and watchful, must be directed to the general good of those who chose him as their leader; otherwise he betrays the trust reposed in him; he is recreant to his duty; he derides public opinion, becomes the accomplice of inefficiency, if not unworthiness, and deserves as great—perhaps greaterblame, than those he so unwisely sustains.

Mr. Davis's efforts to shield Colonel Northrop can only result in shaking the confidence heretofore felt by many persons in the judgment and sagacity of the ex-President of the Confederacy, without doing the slightest good to his former CommissaryGen-eral. It would have been kinder, on the part of Mr. Davis, to have adopted towards him the course he never hesitates to follow towards those whose merits he cannot deny, but will not admit— pass him by in silence, as though he had never been an actor in the great drama wherein were lost most of the fondest hopes of the South.

The supply of fifteen or twenty days rations, at Manassas, suggested in the foregoing communication to the President, as a necessary preparation for probable movements of the army, had long been the subject of General Beauregard's anxious thought. As we have already seen (Chapter VI.), he had endeavored, as early as June, to collect many of the wagons he needed, and ‘twentyfive days' rations for about twenty thousand men.’ Again, a little later, he caused the following order to be given to his Chief Commissary:

Headquarters army of the Potomac, Manassas Junction, July 7th, 1861.
Captain W. H. Fowle, Camp Pickens:

Captain,—The general commanding directs that you take prompt and effective measures to provide forthwith, at your depot near these headquarters, ample provisions—including fat cattle—for twenty-five thousand men for two weeks, and that amount, at least, must be constantly maintained on land, subject to requisition, until otherwise ordered.

Thomas Jordan, A. A. G.

That this had not been done, at the time referred to, or at any