Nevertheless, being most profoundly ignorant of the art of war, like the
majority of the General's critics, and, on the other hand, having some
considerable impressibility by men's characters, I was glad of the
opportunity to look him in the face, and to feel whatever influence might
reach me from his sphere. So I stared at him, as the phrase goes, with
all the eyes I had; and the reader shall have the benefit of what I saw,
--to which he is the more welcome, because, in writing this article, I
feel disposed to be singularly frank, and can scarcely restrain myself
from telling truths the utterance of which I should get slender thanks
for.
The General was dressed in a simple, dark-blue uniform, without epaulets,
booted to the knee, and with a cloth cap upon his head; and, at first
sight, you might have taken him for a corporal of dragoons, of
particularly neat and soldier-like aspect, and in the prime of his age
and strength. He is only of middling stature, but his build is very
compact and sturdy, with broad shoulders and a look of great physical
vigor, which, in fact, he is said to possess,--he and Beauregard having
been rivals in that particular, and both distinguished above other men.
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