Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 12.djvu/133



N his testimony before "the committee on the conduct of the war," Major-General Hooker "Fighting Joe" he was affectionately and appropriately called by his men—uses this remarkable and emphatic language:

Our artillery had always been superior to that of the rebels, as was also our infantry, except in discipline, and that, for reasons not necessary to mention, never did equal Lee's army. With a rank and file vastly inferior to our own, intellectually and physically, that army had, by discipline alone, acquired a character for steadiness and efficiency unsurpassed, in my judgment, in ancient or modern times. We have not been able to rival it.

Now, we may fully accept the latter part of this statement of General Hooker's as to the character of the Confederate army, without conceding that it was due alone to discipline. It was my privilege to be a member of the army of Northern Virginia. As private soldier or as chaplain I followed its flag from Harper's Ferry in '61 to Appomattox in '65, mingling freely with the men in camp, on the march, in the bivouac, on the battlefield, and in the hospital. I knew its most conspicuous leaders and made it my especial business to know the heroes of the rank and file. I marched with them along the weary