Or it may be that fortune is
constant throughout to her first favourite; and that a Marlborough, a
Frederick, a Washington, a Moltke, opposed only by good fighting men,
never by an accomplished strategist, marches from victory to victory.
It is impossible, then, to estimate the ability of any general
without considering his strategy. Moreover, in this age of
inventions, of rapid movement, and of still more rapid communication,
the science is more complicated and even more important than
heretofore; and it is deserving, therefore, of far closer attention,
from both soldiers and civilians, than it has hitherto received. It
is for these reasons that I have described and discussed in such
minute detail the strategy of the campaigns with which Jackson had to
do.
I have only to add that should anything in these pages wound the
susceptibilities of any one of those splendid soldiers and gallant
gentlemen who took part in the Civil War, whether he be Northerner or
Southerner, I here tender him my humblest apologies; assuring him, at
the same time, that while compiling these pages I have always borne
in mind the words of General Grant: "I would like to see truthful
history written.
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