There was a sense, in Washington, D.C., that the great conflict would soon be over. Almost everyone understood how many sacrifices had been made—material as well as human—but there was a belief that the Confederacy would soon implode. How could it be otherwise? How could a people hold on much longer?

In Richmond, which was the only urban place by which to gauge popular opinion, there was a growing sense of despair, but it was the kind that led people to more sacrifices, rather than less. How could they do otherwise when the Yankees threatened to grind them into the ground, to destroy their entire way of life?