Page:Harris Dickson--The unpopular history of the United States.djvu/50

 nothing, and cost more money than a permanent establishment.

In those days folks held a powerful strong prejudice against a standing army, as being dangerous to liberty. A standing army may be dangerous, but believe me, son, a running militia is worse.

Now get this notion straight in your head: As I have said and will say again, it is not a question of the courage and patriotism of the individual volunteer. Men who were not hardened to seeing their friends shot down beside them, not accustomed to hearing the moans of wounded comrades, simply couldn’t stand it, no matter how great their individual courage. Revolutionary volunteers were brothers, sons, and fathers of the Continental regulars, those sturdy and steadfast troops who stuck through it all, from first to last; they became veterans, as good as ever trod shoe leather. Between eight and ten thousand Continentals, starving, freezing, and naked, never thought of giving up throughout that terrible winter at Valley Forge. And