Shelby Foote, the historian whose three-volume The Civil War: A Narrative took him 20 years to write and who became the star of Ken Burns’ 11-hour 1990 PBS documentary on the Civil War, died on Monday at a Memphis hospital at the age of 88.
Here is Mr. Foote’s description of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s slow ride home after surrendering at Appomattox:

Grief brought a sort of mass relaxation that let Traveller [Lee’s horse] proceed, and as he moved through the press of soldiers, bearing the gray commander on his back, they reached out to touch both horse and rider, withers and knees, flanks and thighs, in expression of their affection.