The news of the fate of Colonel Valois, and the
last wishes of the dead Confederate, are imparted in a letter to
Judge Hardin by Peyton.
In the stern realities of the last retreat, fighting and marching,
after the winter snows have whitened the shot-torn fields around
Atlanta; sick of carnage and the now useless bloodshed, Colonel
Peyton leads his mere detachment to the final scene of the North
Carolina surrender. Grant's iron hand has closed upon Petersburg's
weakened lines. Sheridan's invincible riders, fresh from the
Shenandoah, have shattered the steadfast at Five Forks.
Gloomy days have fallen, also, on the cause in the West. The
despairing valor of the day at Franklin and the assault on Nashville
only needlessly add to. the reputation for frantic bravery
of the last of the magnificent Western armies of the Confederacy.
Everywhere there are signs of the inevitable end. With even the sad
news of Appomattox to show him that the great cause is irretrievably
lost, there are bitter tears in Henry Peyton's eyes when he sees
the flags of the army he has served with, lowered to great Sherman
in the last surrender.
The last order he will ever give to them turns out for surrender
the men whose reckless bravery has gilded a "Lost Cause" with a
romantic halo of fadeless glory.
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