to arouse them, as the troops moved on, the darkness and rain prevented them from finding all, and many were in this way left behind.  Two guns were left on the road.  The horses that drew them became exhausted, and the officers went forward to procure others.  When they returned, the rear of the column had passed the guns so far that it was deemed unsafe to send back for them, and they were thus lost.  No arms, cannon, or prisoners, were taken by the enemy in battle, but only such as were left behind under the circumstances I have described.  The number of stragglers thus lost I am unable to state with accuracy, but it is greatly exaggerated in the dispatch referred to.

I am, with great respect, your obedient servant,

R.E.  LEE, General.

The solicitude here exhibited by the Southern commander, that the actual facts should be recorded, is natural, and displayed Lee’s spirit of soldiership.  He was unwilling that his old army should appear in the light of a routed column, retreating in disorder, with loss of men and munitions, when they lost neither.]

XXI.

ACROSS THE BLUE RIDGE AGAIN.

Lee moved his army to the old encampment on the banks of the Opequan which it had occupied after the retreat from Sharpsburg, in September, 1862, and here a few days were spent in resting.

We have, in the journal of a foreign officer, an outline of Lee’s personal appearance at this time, and, as we are not diverted from these characteristic details at the moment by the narrative of great events, this account of Lee, given by the officer in question—­Colonel Freemantle, of the British Army—­is laid before the reader: 

“General Lee is, almost without exception, the handsomest man of his age I ever saw.  He is tall, broad-shouldered, very well made, well set up—­a thorough soldier in appearance—­and his manners are most courteous, and full of dignity.  He is a perfect gentleman in every respect.  I imagine no man has so few enemies, or is so universally esteemed.  Throughout the South, all agree in pronouncing him as near perfection as man can be.  He has none of the small vices, such as smoking, drinking, chewing, or swearing; and his bitterest enemy never accused him of any of the greater ones.  He generally wears a well-worn, long gray jacket, a high black-felt hat, and blue trousers, tucked into his Wellington boots.  I never saw him carry arms, and the only marks of his military rank are the three stars on his collar.  He rides a handsome horse, which is extremely well governed.  He himself is very neat in his dress and person, and in the most arduous marches he always looks smart and clean....  It is understood that General Lee is a religious man, though not so demonstrative in that respect as Jackson, and, unlike his late brother-in-arms, he is a member of the Church of England.  His only faults, so far as I can