In mid-May, 1864, rumors were going around that the Army of Northern Virginia was beaten. A Union officer on General George G. Meade's staff corrected the idea. He said "Lee is a brave and skillful soldier and he will fight while he has a division or a day's rations left." Of Lee's soldiers Lyman said "These rebels are not half-starved and ready to give up—a more sinewy, tawny, formidable-looking set of men could not be". Lyman knew they were still a deadly fighting force even after three years of hard war against a larger and better equipped army. Not surprisingly, it would take another 11 months of hard fighting before the Army of Northern Virginia finally surrendered at Appomattox.