Even with this, the disease was only
arrested, not cured, and for years after the war still clung about
him. Under Providence, his life was saved at that time. This one
blessing seemed to me a full recompense for all I had hitherto
encountered, and a thorough justification of my persistence in the
course I marked out for myself at the beginning of the war. Various
"_affairs_" continued to employ the soldiers at the front; in all of
these our losses were _comparatively_ small. I never saw the soldiers
in better spirits. There was little if any "shirking." As soon
as--almost before--they were recovered they cheerfully reported for
duty. The "expediency" of Johnston's retreat was freely discussed. All
seemed to feel that the enemy was being drawn away from his base of
supplies into a strange country, where he would be trapped at last,
and to feel sure that it was "all right." "Let old Joe alone, _he_
knows what he is about," and on every hand expressions of strong
affection and thorough confidence. The army was certainly far from
being "demoralized," as General Hood must have discovered, when,
immediately afterward, on the 22d of July, and later at Franklin, they
withstood so magnificently the shock of battle, and at the word of
command hurled themselves again and again against the enemy, rushing
dauntlessly onward to meet overwhelming numbers and certain death.
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