The record we have presented will enable the reader to form his own opinion whether Lee was equal to this emergency involving the fate of his army.
Military critics, examining this great battle with fair and candid eyes, will not fail, we think, to discern the truth.

That the Southern army, of less than forty thousand men, repulsed more than eighty thousand in the battle of Sharpsburg, was due to the hard fighting of the smaller force, and the skill with which its commander manoeuvred it.
VII.
LEE AND HIS MEN.
General Lee and his army passed the brilliant days of autumn in the beautiful valley of the Shenandoah.

This region is famous for its salubrity and the beauty of its scenery.

The mountain winds are pure and invigorating, and the forests, which in the season of autumn assume all the colors of the rainbow, inspire the mind with the most agreeable sensations.

The region, in fact, is known as the "Garden of Virginia," and the benign influence of their surroundings was soon seen on the faces of the troops.
A Northern writer, who saw them at Sharpsburg, describes them as "ragged, hungry, and in all ways miserable;" but their forlorn condition, as to clothing and supplies of every description, made no perceptible difference in their demeanor now.