ROBERT E. LEE



62,000 men of all arms and 224 guns. But the
men were the Army of Northern Virginia, and a
better weapon was never fitted to the hand of a
more skilful master. Whatever measure of fame
he had attained hitherto, it was to be more than
doubled in the ensuing campaign.
  Lee has been criticised of late for not having
posted Longstreet nearer to the prospective battle-
field of the Wilderness than Gordonsville. It was
not a matter of choice with him, but of necessity.
The dispersion of his troops was due to the ever-
growing difficulty of subsistence. He probably
knew as well as his critics the disadvantages of
such wide dispersion, and had his orders for their
concentration been promptly carried out, he
would have struck Grant on the first day with
his full force instead of with only half of it.



488