292 Southern Historical Society Papers.
was the mere frothing of a frantic hour. It gradually subsided in the calm of peace, its rude tunes were transformed into those of praise and admiration, and as truth has slowly unrolled the scrolls of history with even pace, justice has demanded and will give reparation.
The history of the late war will be written as the history of no war ever was written before, so ample are the records preserved, and so carefully have they been collected, that it has been well said by General William H. Payne, who served under General Early, and than whom I know no more gallant officer or competent judge, that the publication of these records, which has destroyed so many repu- tations, will only add to his.
It has been said by Colonel Sir W. Butler, the biographer of Gen- eral Charles George Gordon, that " it is the victor who writes history and counts the dead, and to the vanquished there only remains the dull memory of an unnumbered and unwritten sorrow." But in the case of our war we shall, at least, have the consolation of numbering the dead, as well as the survivors, and the official reports, published by the Government of the United States, as well as the opinions of Federal officers who are familiar with his campaigns, are in themselves sufficient to place the name of Early amongst the greatest soldiers of this or of any age.
VALLEY CAMPAIGN OF 1864.
Thus have I given you some of the salient points in the military history of General Early, but I am not unmindful of your request that I should discuss his Valley Campaign of 1864. You may have been under the impression that I participated with him in it, but such was not my good fortune. I became the Adjutant-General and chief of staff of Early's Division a few weeks before the battle of Chancellorsville, in 1863, and was with him until May 6, 1864, when I was wounded and disabled in the second day's conflict in the Wilderness. I cannot, therefore, speak of the Valley Campaign from personal experience, for, while I followed my old commander and comrades through their heroic struggles with unfaltering inter- est, I could only toss on a sick bed while the sound of distant guns was borne upon the breeze, and grieve over my inability to be with them.
Conscious that I do not possess the ability to do justice to him or them, I am also conscious that I owe the honor of the invitation given me to my association with them, and to no source could I
