his praise. And the army respected and loved General George. And
General George loved and was proud of his army. The sky of our hopes
brightened then, and the nation rejoiced and felt strong again. We
all felt that when spring came Mr. Beauregard and his men would be
driven to the wall; that we should march on and take Richmond; and
that General George was just the man to do it all for us.

Then an evil hour came. The nation got in an impatient mood. And
while General George was hardening the constitution of his army on
the banks of the Potomac, a great many restless, discontented, and
evil-disposed persons sprang up, declared that he was no general at
all, and that to command armies was the business of politicians, not
soldiers. During war every nation has its mischievous men, who, to
create notoriety for themselves, make war in their own way on the
great soldiers who are struggling to preserve its honor. These men
were our misfortune. They proceeded to make war on General George,
to persecute him, and to destroy his usefulness with the army. These
men affected to know a great deal about war; but I noticed, my son,
that they were very unwilling to shoulder a musket and face the
enemy. They wanted General George to move on in the middle of
winter, drive Mr. Beauregard out of Manassas, and take Richmond. And
all this while the mud was so deep that he could not drag his wagons
through it. George very sensibly refused to destroy his army in this
way. Indeed, he foresaw that to follow their advice would be to
bring the nation to grief a second time. This increased the
discontent and opposition of his enemies, who regarded it a great
grievance that a general would not follow their advice.

But George was not to be driven into the mud by a set of meddlesome
civilians, who knew nothing about war. And to show them that he was