Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 12.djvu/377

Rh either North or South, as a result of the great civil strife from 1861 to 1865, has disappeared and no longer exists. The President of the United States, upon the declaration of war by Congress, called for 200,000 volunteer troops to defend the honor of the flag, and to carry out the wishes of Congress in making war against Spain. These troops were apportioned among the several States in the Union in accordance with their population, and the call met with a prompt response from the citizenship of every State. In no part of the republic was the response more patriotic, more earnest, or more enthusiastic than in the ex-Confederate States which had been engaged in the war against the Union. About one-third of the volunteers called for by the President were furnished by the Southern States. The officers and enlisted men of these volunteer organizations were composed of ex-Confederate soldiers, their sons and their grandsons. Their conduct in the service of the United States was equally as honorable, as patriotic, and as enthusiastic as that of the troops from any other section of the Union. In camp, and while being hardened to service, they endured hardships and sacrifices with a spirit that showed they were worthy descendants of the men who, from 1861 to 1865, gave such evidence of manhood and heroism, in combating against superior numbers and resources. In the preceding pages of this article, it was stated, that at the close of the war in 1865, the people of the South yielded to the inevitable with honesty and integrity of purpose; that in June, 1865, a little over two months after the surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lee's army in Virginia, there was not an armed Confederate soldier to be found anywhere; that the people of the South were ready, and showed their willingness to accept any results which the Federal government deemed necessary to impose upon them ; that they gave most hearty support to the policies of Presidents Lincoln and Johnson, in inaugurating and putting into effect what was