Leaving the field of Appomattox, they dispersed, some in companies, some in squads, and some alone, to march to their homes, there to weep with their loved ones over a fate which no sacrifice could avert and no bravery postpone. Reared in the school of Washington and Madison, of Jefferson, Marshall, and Calhoun, they had fought in obedience to the mandates of an honest conviction of duty; and that high-toned Honor which bade them tread the toilsome path waited upon its every step, and no act forbidden by the rules of modern civilized warfare could be truthfully laid to their charge; and when Lee bowed his great soul to the will of God, whatever the victor might have imposed, that self-respect which is ever handmaid to conscious rectitude was a jewel of which they could not be deprived.
