Point, of Hanover Court House, and of Fair Oaks would have to be
thrown away because the wisdom of the nation would not send us aid.

This, my son, was the day of our tribulation. The people were
strong, and the army represented the people. I wish, my son, that I
could say also that the Government was strong. But the army, if it
was sick, had not lost its courage, nor its love for the general who
commanded it.

General Lee then came out with his strong and powerful army and
fought us at Gaines's Mill, where he beat us after a desperate
battle. We might as well confess that we were beaten, and badly
beaten, in that battle; and that we had to make the best we could of
our defeat, and get across the Chickahominy Swamp as quick as we
could, and turn our backs on it forever, for we had filled it with
the graves of our brave soldiers. George was sanguine, had great
confidence in the endurance of his army, and looked forward to the
future with faith and hope. He did not want to acknowledge that he
was beaten at Gaines's Mill; but the nation made up its mind that he
was. Indeed, the nation could not comprehend the principle of
generalship that claimed a victory, and at the same time made a
change of base necessary in the face of an advancing enemy. But
George got his army safe across the Chickahominy, though in some
confusion, and instead of driving the enemy to the wall, as he had
promised us he would do, the enemy began driving him to the James
River.

Like the Irishman who had twice got his head broken, but was
unwilling to say he was beaten, George continued to show General Lee
that our army was still full of pluck.