" Lee crushed this idea in a few words. “If I took your advice, the men would be without rations and under no control of officers. They would be compelled to rob and steal in order to live. They would become mere bands of marauders, and the enemy’s cavalry would pursue them and overrun many sections they may never have occasion to visit. We would bring on a state of affairs it would take the country years to recover from.” Although Lee meant “the South” when he said “the country,” he was doing something for which the North as well as the South had reason to thank him, even before he went to see Grant. "

― , Lee: The Last Years