When the banquet had lasted for two hours, Yancey turned to Old Tom
Griffin and said:
"Fresh glasses now and bumpers of champagne!"
When the glasses were filled the Alabama orator lifted his glass.
"This toast is to be drunk standing, gentlemen!"
Every man save Johnston sprang to his feet. Yancey looked straight into
the eye of the General and shouted:
"Gentlemen! We drink to the health of the only man who can save the
Southern Confederacy--General Joseph E. Johnston!"
The glasses were emptied and a shout of applause rang from every
banqueter save one. The General had not yet touched his glass.
Without rising, Johnston lifted his eyes and said in grave tones:
"Mr. Yancey, the man you describe is now in the field--his name is
Robert E. Lee. I drink to his health."
Yancey's quick wit answered in a flash:
"I can only reply to you, sir, as the Speaker of the House of Burgesses
did to General Washington--'Your modesty is only equaled by your
valor!'"
Johnston's tribute to Lee was genuine, and yet nursing his grudge
against the President with malignant intensity he left for the west,
encouraging his friends to fight the Chieftain of the Confederacy with
tooth and nail and that to the last ditch.
CHAPTER XXXI
LOVE AND WAR
Captain Richard Welford reached Richmond from the Western army two days
after Lee had driven McClellan under the shelter of the navy.
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