Excerpt from Battle-Fields of '61: A Narrative of the Military Operations of the War for the Union Up to the End of the Peninsular CampaignThe third period dates from the accession of General Grant to the supreme command of the Union armies. Before the constant and merciless blows of the Great Hammerer the Confederate armies wasted away. It was an era of fighting against fate. All hope of victory was dead. The one chance of success for the Confederates lay in the recognition of the Confederacy by some foreign power, which should give them succor and assistance. Clinging to this desperate hope they fought a dilatory warfare against overwhelming odds, until the surrender of Lee at Appomattox happily ended the fratricidal war.Under the title Battle Fields of '61 I have tried to tell the story of the first period of this protracted struggle. In telling it I have ever kept in mind the fact that military genius and human bravery must always awaken admiration, even when enlisted in support of a cause which we may regard as eternally wrong. The march of time has put the civil war and its causes far behind us. Let us recognize the sincerity and conscientiousness of the men who drew the sword in support of the South, and accept the records of their valor, persever ance, and uncomplaining endurance as a part of the glorious heritage of the people of the United States.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.