Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 4.djvu/25

Rh proportion to white population, and more supplies and materials in proportion to her means for the support of the war, than any other State in the Confederacy. I beg you to believe that this is said, not with any spirit of offense to other Southern States, or of defiance toward the government of the United States, but simply as a just eulogy upon the devotion of a people to what they considered a duty, in sustaining a cause, right or wrong, to which their faith was pledged.&quot;

Such a military record, if the figures bear it out, is a proud heritage. Do figures sustain it? Adjutant and Inspector-General Cooper reports (probably a close estimate) that 600,000 men, first and last, enrolled them selves under the Confederate flag. What proportion of these ought North Carolina to have furnished? The total white population of the eleven seceding States was 5,441,320 North Carolina s was 629,942, and it was third in white population. Hence North Carolina would have discharged to the letter every legal obligation resting upon it if it furnished 62,942 troops. What number did it actually supply?

On November 19, 1864, Adjt.-Gen. R. C. Gatlin, a most careful and systematic officer, made an official report to the governor on this subject. The following figures, compiled from that report by Mr. John Neathery, give the specific information: