The Shades of the Wilderness: A Story of Lee's Great StandAltsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
History
The Shades of the Wilderness: A Story of Lee's Great Stand
Altsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Juvenile fiction
Nevertheless, his mind was still the mind of youth, and he could not
dwell continuously upon this prospect. The camp in the hills was
pleasant. The heats had passed, and autumn in the full richness of its
coloring had come. The forests blazed in all the brilliancy of red and
yellow and brown. The whole landscape had the color and intensity that
only a North American autumn can know, and the October air had the
freshness and vitality sufficient to make an old man young.
The great army of youth--it was composed chiefly of boys, like the one
opposing it--enjoyed itself during these comparatively idle months. The
soldiers played rural games, marbles even, pitching the horseshoe,
wrestling, jumping and running. It was to Harry like Hannibal in
winter quarters at Capua, without the Capua. There was certainly no
luxury here. While food was more abundant than for a long time, it was
of the simplest. Instead of dissipation there was a great religious
revival. Ministers of different creeds, but united in a common object,
appeared in the camp, and preached with power and energy. The South
was emotional then and perhaps the war had made it more so. The
ministers secured thousands of converts. All day long the preaching
and singing could be heard through the groves of pine and cedar, and
Harry knew that when the time for battle came they would fight all the
better because of it. Yielding to the enemy was no part of the
Christianity that these ministers preached.
Harry also saw the growth of the hero-worship accorded to his great
commander. He did not believe that any other general, except perhaps
Napoleon in his earlier career, had ever received such trust and
admiration. Many soldiers who had felt his guiding hand in battle now
saw him for the first time. He had an appearance and manner to inspire
respect, and, back of that, was something much greater, a firm
conviction in the minds of all that he had illimitable patience, a
willingness to accept responsibility, and a military genius that had
never been surpassed. Such was the attitude of the Southern people
toward their great leader then, and, to an even greater degree now,
when his figure, like that of Lincoln, instead of becoming smaller
grows larger as it recedes into the past.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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