Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 22.djvu/330

 318 Southern Historical Society Papers.

Forks was lost ; Petersburg was carried April 2d, and a week later, April gth, the matchless Lee and the remnant of his matchless army, surrendered. When Early heard the news he was sick in an ambu- lance, going home from Wytheville. He said, " without the slightest irreverence, I will say that the sound of the last trump would not have been more unwelcome to my ears."

Comparisons have been made between Jackson's and Early's campaigns, sometimes to the detriment of the latter. The differ- ences in their situations should be remembered.

FOUGHT UNDER A PALING STAR.

First. Jackson fought when the prestige of the Confederacy was in the ascendancy. Early, when it was on the decline. Atlanta fell before Sherman the day before he defeated Crook, at Kernstown. Our misfortunes at Vicksburg, Gettysburg, Missionary Ridge and Knoxville, had taken place before Early's campaign begun. The waning resources of the Confederacy and the collapse of its finances, had changed the face of affairs. With Mississippi, Kentucky and Tennessee overrun, the Trans-Mississippi cut from us, and the lower basin useless, the enemy could concentrate at will against our forces in Georgia and Virginia.

Second. The Valley was a garden and a granary when Jackson fought. Early fought in a desert, where " the crow flying over it would have to carry his rations." He had to practice the art of Napoleon scatter to subsist, and concentrate for battle. He had men seizing and grinding stacks of wheat while battle raged about them. What shall we eat and wherewithal shall we be clothed, was the problem of his men, and if they plundered battlefields it was hunger and nakedness that prompted them.

Third. Jackson's Cavalry was not overmatched by the enemy's, as Early's was, three to one. The Valley, now denuded of fences and swept by fire, was a splendid field for cavalry operations; and Early felt and expressed his sense of deficiency in cavalry. His own was more overnumbered than any other arm of the service; it was terri- bly overworked and overstrained for instance, Payne's Brigade was under fire every day for a month before the battle of Winchester. The Federal Government supplied its troops with good mounts and bountiful forage, while our cavalry had to make shift to get horses as best they could, many being absent at all times in search for them. When they got them, it was equally difficult to feed them; and