His hand was never absolutely free. His authority
did not reach beyond certain limits, and his operations were confined
to one locality. He was never permitted to cross the border, and
"carry the war into Africa." Nor when he joined Lee before Richmond
was the restraint removed. In the campaign against Pope, and in the
reduction of Harper's Ferry, he was certainly entrusted with tasks
which led to a complete severance from the main body, but the
severance was merely temporary. He was the most trusted of Lee's
lieutenants, but he was only a lieutenant. He had never the same
liberty of action as those of his contemporaries who rose to historic
fame--as Lee himself, as Johnston or Beauregard, as Grant, or
Sherman, or as Sheridan--and consequently he had never a real
opportunity for revealing the height and breadth of his military
genius.
The Civil War was prolific of great leaders. The young American
generals, inexperienced as they were in dealing with large armies,
and compelled to improvise their tactics as they improvised their
staff, displayed a talent for command such as soldiers more regularly
trained could hardly have surpassed. Neither the deficiencies of
their material nor the difficulties of the theatre of war were to be
lightly overcome; and yet their methods displayed a refreshing
originality.
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