James Longstreet, in short, was made a convert to a new faith. What Lee confided to him was a plan to march north through Maryland and into Pennsylvania, and Old Pete declared himself enthusiastically in favor of the idea. “If we could cross the Potomac with one hundred & fifty thousand men,” he speculated to Senator Wigfall, it should at least bring Lincoln to the bargaining table; “either destroy the Yankees or bring them to terms.” He closed his letter with the observation that in a day or two Lee would be in Richmond “to settle matters. . . . I shall ask him to take a memorandum of all
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