The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1867-01-31
The Armies of the Confederacy.

In a late issue of the Mobile Advertiser
distinguished general officer of the late
Confederate army makes the following
defense against a very unjust charge
brought against the army py physician
of Louisville, Kentucky. Such defense
was hardly necessary, from the evident
absurdity of the charge; but as the &C.
cusation was made, it gives ns pleasure
to preserve and present to the public 50
complete d vindlcaton as the following
CAUSES OF 1NDIsoIPL1NE IN THE coNFEDE-
RATE ARMIES.
It has recently been stated in the news.
papers that physician of Louisville,
Kentucky, attributes the failure OF the
Confederate cause to the excessive use CT
tobacco and whisky in the Confederate
armies
ters which overcame those great armies
mnst be of deep interest to the military
student. and to our whole people. There
fore we have considered DIR. IS theo-
rv carefully, as the responsibility of the
author requires; and our conclusion is
that tobacco and whisky troubled the
Confederate armies very little. At many
times it was impossible for our troops to
procure tobacco while whisky could on
" be obtained from the medical officers,
and for proper medical purposes.
Many and various causes have been as
signed for our failure, each earnestly and
ingeniously sustained by such arguments
as the peculiar bias of the speakers mind.
might suggest
our government to use the vast stores OF
cotton accumulated within our borders to
create sound credit, was a prime cause
of our downfall They say there were
millions of bales iii the Southern States
which might have been sent to Europe
during the first two years of the war, and
have furnished funds sufficient for the ne
cessities of our young country. That it
was the plain duty and manifest policy
of, our statesmen to take possession OF
this cotton, paying the owners a talr
price for it, and for all they might pro-
duce. That our currency, based on this
cotton, would have been as good as gold.
Our nlanters would have worked earnest
ly in support of the war and the country.
Our soldiers having good pay would have
been able to maintain their families at
home; would have had no motive for de-
scrtion; would not have felt the war to
he an oppression of the poor man for the
benefit of therich That confidence, con-
tentment, comfort, would have been on
loved by all classes throughout the South;
and that all would have been.nnited in
unconquerable opposition to their inva-
ders. This all seems plain enough now
that it is, forever, too late.
Others think the "twenty-negro-bilr
was our ruin. Others consider the sub
stitute laws the 6rst agents OF demorall-
cation in our armies and our country.
While some believe that tobacco and
whisky sapped the energy and efficiency
of our armies, and struck bright star
from the galaxy of nations.
Few soldiers of the active armies of the
late Southern Confederacy can n~hear such
an opinion expressed without some indig-
nation.
1t may be true that officers and sol
diers, while absent from the armies, used
tobacco and whisky too freely; such in
stances were probably often seen about
our larger towns and centres of resort,
and it is from that opinions have been
formed so unjust tc our soldiers.
The army of Italy, under the then
young Napoleon, won more battles du-
ring the campaign of 1896 than did the
army of Northern Virginia in the same
space of time. But it had not such odds
to- contend against as we encountered.
It. was composed Of veterans trained in
the strictest discipline of constant war.
It orerated in an abundant country-was
we'll supplied Its field Of operations was
narrower, and it was led by the most
skillful general the world has ever seen.
The Austrian army, whether comman-
ded by Brahien, ARinzi or Wurmser was
always hampered by the dictation OF
campaign from the Aulic Council in vi
enna-continually repeated its blunders
and exposed itself to be beaten in detail
by Bonaparte.
The brilliant results achieved by the
army of Italy over the six Austrian ar
mics, each twice its force, which in the
course of eleven months it put to rout,
were Justly attributable to the blunders
of the Austrians and to the matchless
skill in war of Napoleon Bonaparto.
But the glory of the army Of northern
Virginia is its own. Whether we regard
it under Gen. Johnston, or in detached
corps, careering through the valley, un-
der that great soldier and good man,
Jackson :atC Chicamauga with Longstreet,
at Petersburg under Beauregard, or eve
rywhere with its great Virginia general,
that s'grey bearded man in the black
slouch hat who is riding grandly down
into history in the fame of its exploits, it
will be found always the same undaunted,
victorious army of pure-minded, devoted