Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 27.djvu/392

 384 Southern Historical Society Papers.

and knightly deeds is written in the hearts of the sons and the daughters of the Confederacy; so that, although the States increase and the boundaries of the Union expand to the limits of the North and South seas, and their offspring scatters over the face of conti- nents, these deeds will be brilliant jewels in the wreck of time which will enkindle in their hearts the cherishing memory of their ancestors of the Southern Confederacy.

In 1 86 1 an agricultural people, armed with the noblest impulses of chivalry and honor, but without the appliances to equip and main- tain an army in the field, were converted into soldiers, as with magi- cal wand, to defend their homes and firesides. There were no looms to weave the cloth; no furnaces to mold the cannon; no plants to make the muskets; no outputs of lead for shot; no manufactories for powder in all this fair Southland-, which produced the cotton for the world; and yet, from beginning to end, the most powerful nations of Europe opened their resources of wealth, manufacture and men to conquer the Confederate States of America. The magnitude of the intersectional war is almost incomprehensible, and the odds in sol- diers against the Confederacy were so tremendous that we marvel how its armies held out for four years.

The total enrollment of the Confederate army and navy, including all classes, was about 600,000 men, out of a population of five mil- lions of whites.

The calculations for the United States Sanitary Commission, in regard to nativity, gave half a million of foreigners in the Union armies, of whom 187,858 were Germans, and 144,221 were Irish. There were also enlisted 180,000 negroes.

The total enrollment of the Union armies, not including three and six months men, was 2,864,272, or 2,264,272 more men than were on the Confederate side. Of Union soldiers there were killed and wounded 395,245, and the total of deaths, including those from dis- ease, was 469,298, or only 130,703 less than all soldiers ever en- rolled by the Confederacy. Such contrasting figures are an eloquent and cogent testimonial to the courage and tenacity of the Confeder- ate army. The glorious record of the devoted struggle of the Southern States for independence, may not be dimmed by the will of the conqueror, and must increasingly illume the pages of history.

With honor and fame shall the heroism of the Confederate soldier be invested, and the justice of his cause will be a beacon in the progress of mankind throughout the cycles of time.