"You may depend on it, that General Johnson will not permit the Yanks to approach any closer to Richmond than they now are, without contesting every inch of the ground as they advance," remarked one gentleman of the party near which he was sitting.
"No," emphatically rejoined another, "when they take Richmond, it will be when they have annihilated the Southern people, when not a thousand able-bodied men are left on Southern soil to rally to its defense."
"Well, I am satisfied," remarked another, "that right here is to be the contest, that is to decide this matter one way or the other."
"If the Yankees take Richmond, the South may as well surrender at once; if however they fail, as they are extremely liable to do, they, on the other hand, may as well withdraw their forces and acknowledge our independence."
"If I am not greatly mistaken," now ventured my operative, "in the spirit of the Southern people, they will, to use a common phrase, 'fight to the bitter end.' And yet," he continued, "to the thoughtful observer, it is not pleasant to contemplate the spectacle of brother arrayed against brother, as they are in this war. I tell you, gentlemen," he added, "that while I am a Southern man, it grieves me to see our land so rent with strife and bloodshed and that the North has made it necessary for a resort to arms to settle a matter that should have been amicably adjusted."
At this juncture, the party was joined by a new-comer, who had evidently just left the supper-room, as he carried an unlighted cigar in one hand, while with the other he was picking his teeth, with the manner of a man who had just eaten a hearty meal and who had enjoyed it.
He was a man past the middle age, hair generously sprinkled with gray, and with a face, that while bronzed by exposure to the weather, was keenly intelligent, not unhandsome, and strongly expressive of force and decision of character. He seated himself and soon joined in the conversation, with that freedom and nonchalance that characterizes the experienced yet courteous traveler, who has seen the world and is familiar with its ways.
"We shall hear of some pretty hard fighting, shortly, I imagine," finally observed the stranger; "McClellan has arrived at Fortress Monroe, and will no doubt commence hostilities at once."
"And we shall also hear of his army getting badly whipped," put in one of the party.
"Well," rejoined the stranger, "that may be true; but, after all, the real contest will be before Richmond; the fighting that may occur now will only be the strategic moves preceding the final struggle. Lee and Johnson," he continued, "are not yet ready for McClellan to advance upon Richmond, and they will see to it that it is put in the best possible condition of defense before he succeeds in reaching it."