The greatest of generals, my son, are liable to disappointment. They
may drive the enemy, and win victories; but they cannot control the
elements. That was what bothered George. It was all very pleasant to
give his army an airing at sea, but when he was safely landed on the
Peninsula, he found himself further from Richmond than when he
started. Instead of mud he found dangerous quicksands, into which
his army plunged and sank almost out of sight. And there was no
better weather on the Peninsula than at Manassas. His cavalrymen,
when they had got their sea-legs off, and mounted, cut a sorry
figure in the quicksand. And his artillery sunk above its boots.
Indeed it was with the greatest difficulty his army could be kept on
the surface. There was no getting a firm understanding.
When George had got his army "all ashore," he set out on his grand
journey to Richmond. But when he had waded for twenty miles or so
through quicksands, he halted before a little old town called
Yorktown. Now the old women along the road told George that he had
better have nothing to do with Yorktown, that Yorktown was not much
account anyhow, and not worth spending much powder on.
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