The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-11-02

only for race of slaves When once
III battle, they fought with !. dash,
spirit, resolution and desperation of
vaior such rs has never been excelled
by any soldiery in the world, ancient
or modern. In the European sense
of the word, there was no such thing
known to the Confederate army as
discipline. The punishment OF de-
sertlon by death was the exception,
rather than the rule; and the hand of
the commander-in-chief was weaken
ed just IN proportion as the severity
of the discipline was relaxed. Jack
son waSthe only general officerin the
Confederate service who applied the
rigid discipline of tho European
armies to that under his own COM
mand; and in proportion to its num-
bers, and in view of the brief period
within which its splendid operations
We're performed, no army in the world
ever accomplished such brilliant re-
suits. His severe discipline held his
troops firm, close, compact, in hand.
and when he struck, it was with II full
strength of his arm, and victory was
the result. Bragg made some inef-
fectual attempts to discipline the
army Of the West; but the Southern
blood was too high to bend to what it
conceived to be Il degradation, and
could not then realize that it was
better than the eternal degradation
that followed.
The infantry service Of the Con
federate army was the finest body of
hight foot, batting the discipline, the
world ever saw. It possessed all the
tenacity in line of the Austrians; all
the confidence in column, boldness in
attack and cool self-possession in de-
feat, of the British, and all the daring
intrepidity and fearless dash of the
French Corps d'Af1que; while the
deliberateness and precision with
which it delivered its deadly rifle fire,
lnfilcting nearly double loss on the
enemyin almost every engagement,
attested its vast superiority over that
of the enemy. The Confederate
skirmishers were the terror of the
Federal army; and in all combined
movements in the open field, and
with numbers always inferior to the
enemy, the Southern infantry has
never failed to win the field. This
superiority proceeded not from the
greater bravery of the Confederate
troops, but from their greater com
bined skill and intelligence, flowing
from that larger latitude given to in
diyidual action Without their
officers to guide and direct them, the
Federal troops were little better than
an armed mob. The Confederate
troops acted generally as well without
as with their officers, whose superb
ority was only the temporary distinc-
ton of rank. There were men in
the ranks of the Southern army who
could have supplied the places of
their general officers. Gen Roger
A. Pryor, after gallantly serving his
country as commander of brigade,
rendered his resignation, and fought
to the end of the war in the capacity
of q gallant private of the famous
9th Virginia cavalry.
The English refer with Just pride
and enthusiastic praise to the solid
tenacity and stubborn courage of the
British infantry at the battle of In
herman, where 5000 British light
foot held in check and finally re-
pulsed $4,000 Russian infantry; but
it cannot compare with the brilliant
and spirited infantry charges of
Ewell's and Longstreet's corps upon
the fortified position of the enemy at
Gettysburg, on the evening of the
second days battle, where the South
ern infantry moved to the assault
under a withering artillery fire, and
swept before it three heavy lines of
battle. And nothing is so forcibly
illustrative of that high intelligence
that was the Distinguishing character
istic Of the Southern army, than the
fact that it saw and felt, before the
attack was made, that the assault of
the Sd must prove failure.
The cavalry branch of the Confe-
derate army was, strictly speaking,
only part of its infantry arm,
clothed with equestrian powers and
offices. 1t was only superior body
of mounted infantry, that, as ad-
vanced videttes and daring scouts,
formed the ears and eyes of that
army that was never but once taken
by surprise The mounted force of
the Confederate army resembled the
Russian Cossack, whose Office is to
harrass and threaten, not to attack;
and as guerillas, they became as re-
i r / I