Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 26.djvu/76

66 minor positions in battalions, squadrons and regiments to be general officers in highest commands, trusted leaders on large occasions.

In the civil war in England, two and a half centuries ago, among the same race of people, this fitness for command and leadership from civil life presented itself, and it is curious to read the great historian's comment on those far-off times.

Macaulay, in his eloquent tribute to Hampden, says: "It is a remarkable circumstance, that the officers who had studied tactics, in what was considered the best schools, under Vere, in the Netherlands, and Gustavus Adolphus, in Germany, displayed less skill as commanders than those who had been bred to peaceful employments, and who never saw even a skirmish until the civil war broke out! An unlearned person might be inclined to think that the military art is no very profound mystery; that its principles are, the quick eye, the cool head and a stout heart will do more to make a general than all the diagrams of Jomini! This, however, is certain, that Hampden, the great leader, who neither sought nor shunned greatness, who found glory only because glory lay in the plain path of duty, showed himself a far better officer than Essex, and Cromwell than Leslie."

I think it may be stated with truth, that the peculiar character of our Southern life led largely to similar results. Every plantation, with its admirable organization and discipline; with its quartermaster and commissary departments, and the daily exercise of authority, trained Southern men unconsciously for leadership the war developed and enlarged it.* * *

The events of the war on the coast of Carolina, more so in Charleston harbor than elsewhere, presented the happy combination of trained officers with the "quick eye," "cool head" and "stout heart" from civil life, proving ever equal to new conditions in directing the varying fortunes of the unequal contest. A series of military object-lessons is prominently in view, and the recital of a few will suffice to make reply to the general allegations, ignorantly asserted, that Southern men are inert, and wanting in enterprise, energy and inventive genius; certain it is, that in these respects, as well as in skill, courage and endurance, no higher achievements in the military records of any nation have ever been witnessed than theirs.

Heavy odds in men and equipment were uniformly encountered, but the possession of one end of a causeway in our coast region, by