Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1882-07-22

dence IN pipe-clay and dress parad
and his overwhelming dread {
General Lee and Southern impetU
osity. The secret of Grants sue
cess lay in the fact that he did nc
believe in these. He considere
the Northern volunteer as fully
match for his Southern adversar.
and did not hesitate to attack when
! ever he believed himself to hav
the advantage in numbers or posi-
ton. He appreciated the fact tina
the quickest way to make recrui
sweets Of victory. To this, NOR
than all other qualities, his success
was due. Instead of opposing tn
enemy with "time and tactics" h
threw his columns against then
and taught his men their tactics un
der fire.
Had the North entered upon tn
conflict with that appreciation O
its own fighting capacity, with tha
confidence in the sOldierly qualitie
of its citizens which the war gave
the struggle would have been o
short duration. On the other hand
if the Southern soldier had appre
ciated at the outset the qualities o
the Northern volunteer as he die
when the war ended, that self-cOnfi
dence which was the chief elemen
of his superiority would have van
ished and the magnificent record ht
has made would never have beer
written.
These conditions can never bt
paralleled again. They do not in
here in the. people of either section
They were purely temporary anC
fortuitous. The South had no rea
advantage in the familiarity of it
people with firearms. 1t is doubt
full even if as large proportion o
their armies as of our Northern reg
iments were accustomed to arms o.
precision. So too their horseman
shin WsS a thing more fanciful thar
real, at least in IFS results. 1t was
the confidence the Southern soldier
had in himself as his leader, anG
the lack of confidence in himself and
an overestimate of his adversary on
the part OF the Northern soldier that
made the chief difference.
In a future war between the Sec
tions all these conditions would be
reversed, and from the outset the
advantage in confidence and spirit
would be with the Northern army.
The magic of the old boast has been
broken and the memory of defeat
would weigh the Southern soldier
down with apprehension of disaster
Just as it did the Northern volun-
teer at the outbreak of the civil
war. .-..r.f J sa rr....-.
In the actual soldie~ly qualities OF
the people of the two sections there
is probably but little difference.
All the talk about the impetuOsity
reckless daring and joy of battle
which is said to characterize the
South in contrast with the North is
mere twaddle. The charge at Mis-
sion Ridge, whenthe army of Grant
outran his orders and went to the
summit instead of entrenching at
the foot of the slope, was the great
miracle of impetuOsity of the Whole
war. On the other hand, the claim
of greater staunchneSS-Of stubborn
bulI-dOg grip-On the part of the
North is equally nonsense. Peters
burg is an eternal monument of the
power of the South to stand punish
ment. The man who could boast
of the superior staying power of the
North with the facts of that mar
velOus defense before him exceeds
in assurance the traditional govern
ment mule. The truth would seeIn
to be that in mere sOldiery qualities
the men of the two sectiOus are
very fairly balanced. Each has
certain advantages which are cOun-
terbalanced by certain deficiencies.
The South has better general pre-
paration for camp life while the
North has more ingenuity and is
better able to supply deficiencies of
equipment and the like. The North
has more intelligence but the South
has more homOgeneity. The
Southern soldier can subsist on less
and the Northern volunteer will
more intelligently husband his re-
sources and secure himself against
disease. In short, we believe that
the eXcellencie3 and defects of a
recruited army drawn
from each section for service against
a common enemy are so evenly
balanced that no unprejudiced OBJ
server could find ground on which
to be3e an intelligent preference.
a UNION VETERAN.