“Do you not think it advisable to notify all citizens living east of the Blue Ridge to move out north of the Potomac all their stock, grain, and provisions of every description?  There is no doubt about the necessity of clearing out that country so that it will not support Mosby’s gang.  And the question is whether it is not better that the people should save what they can.  So long as the war lasts they must be prevented from raising another crop, both there and as high up the valley as we can control.

“U.  S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.”

He had rightly concluded that it was time to bring the war home to a people engaged in raising crops from a prolific soil to feed the country’s enemies, and devoting to the Confederacy its best youth.  I endorsed the programme in all its parts, for the stores of meat and grain that the valley provided, and the men it furnished for Lee’s depleted regiments, were the strongest auxiliaries he possessed in the whole insurgent section.  In war a territory like this is a factor of great importance, and whichever adversary controls it permanently reaps all the advantages of its prosperity.  Hence, as I have said, I endorsed Grant’s programme, for I do not hold war to mean simply that lines of men shall engage each other in battle, and material interests be ignored.  This is but a duel, in which one combatant seeks the other’s life; war means much more, and is far worse than this.  Those who rest at home in peace and plenty see but little of the horrors attending such a duel, and even grow indifferent to them as the struggle goes on, contenting themselves with encouraging all who are able-bodied to enlist in the cause, to fill up the shattered ranks as death thins them.  It is another matter, however, when deprivation and suffering are brought to their own doors.  Then the case appears much graver, for the loss of property weighs heavy with the most of mankind; heavier often, than the sacrifices made on the field of battle.  Death is popularly considered the maximum of punishment in war, but it is not; reduction to poverty brings prayers for peace more surely and more quickly than does the destruction of human life, as the selfishness of man has demonstrated in more than one great conflict.

In the afternoon of the 16th I started back to Winchester, whence I could better supervise our regressive march.  As I was passing through Newtown, I heard cannonading from the direction of Front Royal, and on reaching Winchester, Merritt’s couriers brought me word that he had been attacked at the crossing of the Shenandoah by Kershaw’s division of Anderson’s corps and two brigades of Fitzhugh Lee’s cavalry, but that the attack had been handsomely repulsed, with a capture of two battle-flags and three hundred prisoners.  This was an absolute confirmation of the despatch from Grant; and I was now more than satisfied with the wisdom of my withdrawal.