field. He had been a model Superintendent at West Point and an
exceedingly good officer of engineers before he left them, on
promotion, for the cavalry. Very tall and handsome, magnificently
fit in body and in mind, genial but of commanding presence, this
flower of Southern chivalry was not only every inch a soldier but
a leader born and bred. Though still unknown to public fame he
was the one man to whom the most insightful leaders of both sides
turned, and rightly turned; for this was Robert Lee, Lee of
Virginia, soon to become one of the very few really great
commanders of the world.

As Lee came up to the hotel at San Antonio he was warmly greeted
by Mrs. Barrow, the anxious wife of the confidential clerk to
Major Vinton, the staunch Union officer in charge of the pay and
quartermaster services. "Who are those men?" he asked, pointing
to the rangers, who wore red flannel shoulder straps. "They are
McCulloch's," she answered; "General Twiggs surrendered
everything, to the State this morning." Years after, when she and
her husband and Vinton had suffered for one side and Lee had
suffered for the other, she wrote her recollection of that
memorable day in these few, telling words: "I shall never forget
his look of astonishment, as, with his lips trembling and his
eyes full of tears, he exclaimed, 'Has it come so soon as this?'
In a short time I saw him crossing the plaza on his way to
headquarters and noticed particularly that he was in citizen's
dress. He returned at night and shut himself into his room, which
was over mine; and I heard his footsteps through the night, and
sometimes the murmur of his voice, as if he was praying. He
remained at the hotel a week and in conversations declared that
the position he held was a neutral one."