Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 12.djvu/204

190 morale of our army to the conduct of the "men who wore the gray" since the war; for while thousands slept in soldiers' graves, many came back to resume their old places, or rather to make for themselves new places in business and social circles. These men were exposed to some peculiar temptations at the close of the war, and it would not have been strange if they had entered upon a career of lawlessness which would have made the condition of our unhappy South far worse than it was. After four years' absence from any industrial pursuit, with fondly cherished hopes all blighted, plans all frustrated, fortunes swept away, and avenues of business all closed, they returned to their desolated homes. Alas! in many instances blackened ruins marked the spot of their once happy homes, and there were loved ones to tell tales of outrage and wrong which men of Anglo-Saxon blood have not been wont to hear unmoved. To make matters worse (under the then avowed purpose of Andrew Johnson to "make treason odious