Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 26.djvu/203

 /'///< /////// < 'ni,i\;i, rn/i Miniiinit'iit nt Montgomery, Ala. 193

u MS not to be considered, which alarmed the Southerner for the fu- ture <>f hi- < hildren and his happiness and peace in the union. The sections had grown more and more to mistrust each other. Finally a President had been elected by a sectional majority in the electoral college, who had declared that the country "could not exist half slave and half free." Then it was, not undervaluing union, but de- spairing of hope of longer living in peace and honor under the union of his fathers, the Southerner, in obedience to the instincts of self- preservation and the teachings of a lofty courage, declared that he would " depart in peace," and that denied him, would stake all upon his sword. That was denied him, and then came the ggn at Sumter, and then the Confederate soldier.

THE ODDS.

The hostile sections had a common border of a thousand miles, stretching from the Atlantic ocean to the western limits of Missouri, everywhere easily crossed by armies. The South had over three thousand miles of sea-coast, without a ship to guard it; while the North had a navy which could attack this coast at pleasure, and often co-operate on rivers with invading armies in grand inland opera- tions.

The Confederate soldier was fighting for his home, which gave him a decided moral advantage. He operated generally in his own country, which gave him a great military advantage, all the fruits of which he could not reap; since he fought men of the same race, speaking the same language, who often had "men to the manner born " in their ranks. He also had the advantage of moving on in- terior lines, which was largely neutralized by wretched transportation facilities, in his sparsely settled territory, and his opponent's com- mand of the sea, and some of our great rivers. In all things else,, the Confederate was at a fearful disadvantage.

His government was new, without credit, and confronting an old, established power. In men^ ships and all that enters into the equip- ment, comfort and supply of armies, the odds against him were ap- palling. The official records show that the North enlisted throughout the four years of the war, two million, seven hundred and seventy- t-ight thousand men while the South according to the best estimate,
 * <>uld not muster quite eight hundred thousand men. Of the three

lion, five hundred thousand combatants engaged in the struggle, irly two million more fought on the one side or the other. Dependent wholly on agriculture, the South went with naked valor