"But would he not have overcome Sedgwick?" I asked.
"Pardon me. After Hooker's defeat Lee could afford to march against Sedgwick, but not before. I think he would have retreated. We had enormous good fortune. It was as great as at the first Manassas, when Beauregard, finding himself flanked by McDowell, won the battle by the steady conduct of a few regiments who held the enemy until Johnston's men came up. Of course I am not making any comparison between Generals Lee and Beauregard. But Manassas and Chancellorsville are past, and observe, sir, what a loss we have had to-day. I dare say the enemy's loss is heavier, but he can stand losses here, and we cannot; another day or two like to-day, and we are ruined. To beat back a corps of the enemy for a mile or so until it occupies a stronger position than before, is not--you will agree with, me--the defensive warfare which, the Confederacy began. What can General Lee do to-morrow but attack? He will attack, and I trust we shall defeat Meade's army; but we cannot destroy it, and it will be filled up again long before we can get any reënforcement. Indeed, Jones, I do not see how we can be reënforced at all--so far from our base, and the enemy so powerful to prevent it."
"Cannot General Lee await an attack?"
"I fear that he cannot, Jones; the enemy would grow stronger every day, while we should become weaker. The enemy would not attack until we should begin to retreat; then they would embarrass our retreat and endeavour to bring us to battle."
"Then you would advise immediate retreat?"
"My friend, we must risk a battle. But even if we gain it, we shall be losers. The campaign was false from the start. Is it not absurd for a small army of a weak nation to invade a great nation in the face of more powerful armies? If we had arms which the Federals could not match, we should find it easy to conquer a peace on this field. But their equipment is superior to ours. The campaign is wrong. If inactivity could not have been tolerated, we should have reënforced General Bragg and regained our own country instead of running our heads against this wall up here. But, do you not agree with, me that inactivity would have been best? Hooker's army would not have stirred this summer until too late for any important campaign. The year would have closed with Virginia secure and with great recuperation to all our eastern states. Our army would have been swelled by the return of our wounded and sick, without any losses to offset our increase. As it is, our losses are going to be difficult if not impossible to make up. I fear that Lee's army will never be as strong hereafter as it is to-night."
"But would not a great victory here give us peace?"
"I fear not; we cannot gain such a victory as would do that. Look at the victories of this war. They have been claimed by both aides--many of them. The defeated recover very quickly. Except Fort Donelson, where has there been a great victory?"
"The Chickahominy," said I.
"Gaines's Mill was a victory; but we lost more men than the Federals, and McClellan escaped us."