Stan,
Here is something else I did not write...that may be "sent to the cornfield" before you read it.
Joe
In view of the threatened collision between the two armies, General Lee advised the evacuation of the city, and nearly the entire population left, and, as General Lee in his reports says, without a murmur.
.... the memorable words of Lee: "History presents no instance of a people exhibiting a purer and more unselfish patriotism; they cheerfully incurred great hardship and privations, and surrendered their homes and property to destruction, rather than yield them into the hands of their enemies." I saw Fredericksburg afterwards; the city was sacked and many a home was in ashes; some of these women were there, and as they sat among its ruins as it were, in the very ashes of their desolation, they thanked God for their victory.