Page:Confederate Portraits.djvu/57

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supplied his want of ambition, and he was angry to see any man more respected than himself because he thought he deserved it more." ^^ I beheve that Johnston was even capable of the highest, noblest self-sacrifice, so long as it was quite voluntary and not demanded of him by others, and that he was always ready to act upon his own fine saying: **The great energy exhibited by the Government of the United States, the danger in which our very exist- ence as an independent people lies, requires sacrifice from us all who have been educated as soldiers." ^^

What is most winning about Johnston, however, in fact quite irresistible, is his warmth of nature, his affec- tion, his feminine tenderness, doubly charming in a man as strenuously virile as ever lived. His letters, even offi- cial, have a vivacity and personal quality wholly differ- ent from Lee's. He loved his men, watched over them, cared for them, praised them : ** I can find no record of more effective fighting in modern battles than that of this army in December, evincing skill in the commanders and courage in the troops." ^^ He had the most kindly words for the achievements of his officers. Of Stuart he writes: "He is a rare man, wonderfully endowed by nature with the qualities necessary for an officer of light cavalry. Calm, firm, acute, active, and enterprising, I know no one more competent than he to estimate the occurrences before him at their true value." ^^ And to Stuart : " How can I eat or sleep without you upon the outpost?" 78 Of Longstreet: **I rode upon the field, but

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