On the 2d of July the campaign was over, and General McClellan must have felt, in spite of his hopeful general orders to the troops, and dispatches to his Government, that the great struggle for Richmond had virtually ended.  A week before, he had occupied a position within a few miles of the city, with a numerous army in the highest spirits, and of thorough efficiency.  Now, he lay on the banks of James River, thirty miles away from the capital, and his army was worn out by the tremendous ordeal it had passed through, and completely discouraged.  We have not dwelt upon the horrors of the retreat, and the state of the army, which Northern writers painted at the time in the gloomiest colors.  For the moment, it was no longer the splendid war-engine it had been, and was again afterward.  Nothing could be done with it, and General McClellan knew the fact.  Without fresh troops, a renewed advance upon Richmond was a mere dream.

No further attack was made by General Lee, who remained for some days inactive in the hot forests of Charles City.  His reasons for refraining from a new assault on General McClellan are summed up in one or two sentences of his report:  “The Federal commander,” he says, “immediately began to fortify his position, which was one of great natural strength, flanked on each side by a creek, and the approach to his front commanded by the heavy guns of his shipping, in addition to those mounted in his intrenchments.  It was deemed inexpedient to attack him, and in view of the condition of our troops, who had been marching and fighting almost incessantly for seven days under the most trying circumstances, it was determined to withdraw, in order to afford them the repose of which they stood so much in need.”

On the 8th of July, General Lee accordingly directed his march back toward Richmond, and the troops went into camp and rested.

VI.

LEE AND McCLELLAN—­THEIR IDENTITY OF OPINION.

General Lee had thus, at the outset of his career, as commander of the Confederate army, saved the capital by a blow at the enemy as sudden as it was resistless.  The class of persons who are never satisfied, and delight in fault-finding under all circumstances, declared that a great general would have crushed the enemy on their retreat; these certainly were in a minority; the people at large greeted Lee as the author of a great deliverance worked out for them, and, on his return to Richmond, he was received with every mark of gratitude and honor.  He accepted this public ovation with the moderation and dignity which characterized his demeanor afterward, under all circumstances, either of victory or defeat.  It was almost impossible to discover in his bearing at this time, as on other great occasions, any evidences whatever of elation.  Success, like disaster, seemed to find him calm, collected, and as nearly unimpressible as is possible for a human being.