the Great Conflict, but something more is needed. They deal but
slightly with men's motives, and still less with their personal
peculiarities. They give only here and there any idea whatever of the
origin of the plans of campaigns or battles and rarely any adequate
description of the topography of the theatre of war, or of the
difficulties to be overcome. They describe but superficially the
organization, equipment, armament and supply of the troops, and leave
their trials, hardships and extraordinary virtues largely to the
imagination. They are entirely silent as to the qualities and
idiosyncrasies of the leaders. Neither romance nor personal adventure
finds any place within their pages, and fine writing is entirely
foreign to their purpose. They are for the most part dry and
unemotional in style, and are put together so far as possible
chronologically in the order of their importance without the slightest
reference to literary effect. While nothing is more untrustworthy
generally than personal recollections of events which took place over a
third of a century ago, those which are supported by letters and
diaries are of inestimable value in construing and reconciling the
official reports. But this is not all. The daily journals and other
contemporaneous publications are quite important and cannot be safely
left out of account. All must be taken into consideration before the
final distribution of praise and blame is made, or the last word is
written in reference to events or to the great actors who controlled or
took part in them.

In the list of the most notable men of the day the name of Major
General WILLIAM FARRAR SMITH must be recorded. He belonged at the
outbreak of the Civil War, to that distinguished group of which Lee on
the Southern side and McClellan on the Northern, were the center.
Joseph E. Johnston and William B. Franklin were his most intimate