Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-05-14
PrnIse of the southern Minna-TheIr Kr

Praise OF the Southern M~iIltia-Their Em
cheney ngninst the North,
The Richmond (Va.) Examiner has the
following;
We nave no regular soldiers, and compar-
Rtively few trained, experienced, scientific
officers. In case Of invasion, our chief
reliance must be upoR militia and militia
officers. No country has such fine material
out Of which to form numerous corps Of
militia, for we are all accustomed to out-of-
door, active life, and 10 the use of the horse
and the gun. Self reliance aud personal
courage are prominent traits of Southern
character, and the very qualities most essen
tial in militia.
The Yankees have little self reliance or
personal courage, are submissive and easily
drilled, and may make better co inc regu-
Lar soldiers but they have few men qualified
to make officers. Benedict Arnold was the
best officer the North has produced. Their
talent is for naval warfare, and at sea no men
command more skillfully, or fight more
bTavely. The fewness of our towns and
villages, the sparseness of our population,
our mountain ranges and bad roads, are
elements of strength, all obstacles to an in
Tsding army, and all advantages in carrying
Oh irregular defensive warfare.
The North and North west possess not one
of our advantages, in case Of offensive war
fare. The border country is generally level,
the roads good, the population dense, but
unused to guns, and Impractical in horse
msnship, the means of subsisting an invad.
ing army abundant and near at hand, towns
and villages at every FIVE miles, and spoils
and plumber abundant. No country is more
valuable than she, or less vulnerable than
we. II she invade US, we must invade her.
Then we ehall have to rely almost solely on
our experienced and scientific officers, and
on the soldiers trained by them.
Militia are of little use in invasive war
fare, but invaluable in defensive war. We
may be charged with paradox, and no doubt
are about to horrify our distinguished ex-
perienc ed officers, late of the Federal army,
when we say that, for defensive war, militia,
III some localities and under some circum-
Stances, are superior to regulars. If they
dispute our position, we propose to prove it
by the instance of the SeminOles in Florida,
who held out for twenty years against the
whole Federal army.
Now we ask them, was there an officer in
ne army turned out with double the num-
beAof regulars in the swamps of Florida
Whocould have sustained himself half so
long as the Seminoles2 Ali bat they were
savsges, accustomed to 1--WE in the swamps,
md acquainted with all their hiding places.
Well let the Yankees invade our noun
tain region and burn a few houses, and we
predict that our mountain boys will become
as savage as the Seminoles, and twice as
brave. Or let them invade the miasmatic
coasts the Atlantic, and they will find our
militia Nqually savage; and the mosquitoes
and agueend fever more savage than our
soldiers.
Our militia are our chief element of
strength, our almost sole element of defense.
1t is time to ascertain from the history and
experience OF other countries, as well as of
our OVID, how far they may be relied on.