They made a reconnoissance in the afternoon, but Weed's artillery at the apex of the line was too strongly posted to be forced, and Lee soon found other employment for his troops, for Sedgwick was approaching to attack his rear.
In the history of lost empires we almost invariably find that the cause of their final overthrow on the battle-field may be traced to the violation of one military principle, which is that _the attempt to overpower a central force of converging columns, is almost always fatal to the assailants_, for a force in the centre, by the virtue of its position, has nearly double the strength of one on the circumference.

Yet his is the first mistake made by every tyro in generalship.

A strong blow can be given by a sledge- hammer, but if we divide it into twenty small hammers, the blows will necessarily be scattering and uncertain.

Let us suppose an army holds the junction of six roads.

It seems theoretically possible that different detachments encircling it, by all attacking at the same time, must confuse and overpower it; but in practice the idea is rarely realized, for no two routes are precisely alike, the columns never move simultaneously, and therefore never arrive at the same time.