American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1851-1863, 1863-03-20
Ilackwood on the conrederates.

+" Months ! lsit TO the Confederate States"
The writer IS an admirer of Southern pluck
and character After witnessing a review of
the Confederate army, he says:
!" As the regiments marched past me, re-
markt that, however sloyeuly the dress of
the men of any particular company might be,
their rifles were invariably in good seryicea-
BILE order. They marched, too, with an elias
tic tread, the pace being somewhat slower
than that OF our troops, and seemed not Wig
oroas and healthy, but each man had the
unmistakable look of conscious strength and
manly self-relianee, which those who are
accustomed 70 review troops like to see.
have seen many armies file past in all the
pomp of bright clothing and well polished
accoutrements, but I never saw one COM
posed of finer men, or that looked more like
work, than that portion of General Lees
army which | was fortunate enough TO see
inspected.
" OF the cavalry saw but little, as Gen.
Stuart had lef; for his raid into PennsyIva-
mia the day reached headquarters and only
returned couple of days before | COM
meuced my homeward journey. ] did remark,
however, that all the men rode WELL in which
Parfleul they present a striking contrast to
the Northern cavalry. who can scarcely sit
their horses. even trotting. Indeed, | have
no aoubt but that all who have seen the
Northern troops on duty in Washington will
{
scare crows under the name OF cavalry that
they ever saw. 1propos of them Southern
lady told me that on one occasion, when
testing with a Northern officer about the ina
bility OF his troops to contend with Southern
g ehivalry," although the latter were not half
so numerous, he said . What can we do I
We can never catch them for while we are
opening the gates they all over the
fences
Every white man in the South rides from
childhood, and consequently is at home in
the saddle I; whereas, to be on horseback is a
very disegreeable position for Yankee, and
one in which he rarely trusts himself. In
the North thousands keep horses, but only 20
drive them. hat is the of having
roads if you don't drive on them ~ they saw
To have horse that can trot mile in two
minutes forty seconds, is the pride of New
Highlander; but good fencer would be as
useless to him as elephant. The troops
in the Southern cavalry have their own
horses, and upon the breaking out of the
war they provided themselves with arms as
well. Sabres have since been issued to them
/ by Government, and they have mostly armed
themselves with earhines and reyolvers from
their discounted brethren of the North
Their knowledge of drill is limited, and alto
gethcr their constitution resembles much
that of our irregular cavalry. AS they can
never be required to act in an open country
suitable to masses of horsemen, they are adj
mirably adapted for the service required of
them.
Cavalry thai conld not fence well would
be utterly useless in Virginia, but in a close
country like it, where the quantity of wood
always prevents any very extensive view, a
body of good riders, such as the Southern
cavalry, are invaluable to a General, as by
this means alone he can learn the move
ments, and sometimes the whereabouts, of
the enemy. The want of such skillful horse
men is sadly felt in the Federal armies, and
accounts in a measure for their general ig-
norance of where the enemy is and what he
is doing. The Federal Generals hitherto
have been extremely rash or extremely eau
tious and slow. They spurn the advantages
attending upon their irregular army; and,
unable to attain the efficiency of regulars,
they possess the drawbacks of both systems,
without the advantages of either.
The Southern ranks, on the contrary. have
attained an efficiency equal to that of the
best irregulars. They are, therefore, enabled
to make long marches, caring little, mean
while, for regularity, so long as they can
form line upon the decisive points while
their puzzled enemy, clogged with all the
routine of drill, without officers able to di-
rect it, or soldiers sufficiently instructed to
perform it, is trying in vain TO discover their
whereabouts. 1t is owing to these circum-
stances that ths Southern cavalry under
Stuart has been so able to march round and
round Mcclellan, seizing aud destroying his
reserve of stores in the rear, while he
blindly feeling for them in front As the
real power of army rests in its ability of
marching well, the Confederates make up for
their deficiency of number by their rapidity
of movement.