This trait of magnanimity, such a splendid companion to personal
courage, I found afterwards to be characteristic of the man.

Though springing from a long line of heroic and patriotic ancestors, he
had not a particle of pretentious pride, but to all men, privates in the
ranks as well as officers, so that they were but brave and good
soldiers, he always found "time enough for courtesy." He never tried to
appropriate another man's laurels, but he possessed in a high degree
that quality of courage which is so well described by Emerson:

Courage, the highest gift, that scorns to bend
To mean devices for a sordid end.
Courage, an independent spark from Heaven's bright throne,
By which the soul stands raised, triumphant, high, alone.
Great in itself, not praises of the crowd,
Above all vice, it stoops not to be proud.
Courage, the mighty attribute of powers above,
By which those great in war are great in love.
The spring of all brave acts is seated here,
As falsehoods draw their sordid birth from fear.

In his friendship he was gentle and tender as one who is full of love
and human sympathy. You might have thought him better fitted for the
paths of peace, and yet upon the battlefield he was brave as the
bravest. Whenever and wherever duty called him his personal safety was
by him never considered. Often have I seen him in the thickest of the
fight, by his presence and personal direction cheering and encouraging
both officers and men. Though the son of the general in chief of the
army, he took no favor by it.