mental picture which presented itself to them and on which they acted at the time. More often than not it will be found that the course of action which turned out unfortunately had every reasonable appearance of being the best, perhaps of being the only, course which promised good results. The Ichief whose intuition is most seldom at fault under these circumstances is the one who has the right to be called a genius.
Important as the close study of military history is to a correct judgment of military affairs both for the soldier and civilian, the study of the map and the grasp of the principal natural and artificial features of the scene of a campaign is just as essential; since to read the history of a war without the map is waste of time, the author respectfully requests all who do him the honour to read his book to follow the events narrated with the map before them.
To the industry of many previous writers and to the kind assistance of some who took a distinguished part in the great war the author desires to express his gratitude and obligation. In particular he availed himself of the Comte de Paris' impartial history, of the Memoirs of Lee by Colonel Long, the Campaigns of Stuart's Cavalry by McClellan, and General A. A. Humphreys' Campaign in Virginia 1864, and sought inspiration from the pages of Henderson's Life of Stonewall Jackson. It has been his endeavour to carry on the thread of the story which closed with the death of the great Virginian through the doubtful struggle on Northern soil and the desperate contest in the Wilderness which inaugurated the final campaigns in defence of Richmond; but in order to expose the true situation of the contending forces, it has been found necessary to give a very short sketch of the war and in particular a brief summary of the difficult campaign which placed the keys of the Mississippi Valley in Northern power and which brought to the front