Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1883-01-20
wxy tAl:cONsE0fsl e soLolfss Elllfp
McCarthy's Soldier Life In the Army OF
Northern Virginia.

: 1862, $4,000 OF them routed 10000
} Federal troops. AT Chancellurs-
4 vile, in 1868, 81 900, under Lee and
, Jackson, whipped, and but for the
death of jackson, would have ami
hilated an army of $4,000 men.
? more than double their own num-
ber. At Gettysburg, O., 900 of them
assailed the heights manned by Ii2,-
600. AT the Wilderness, in 1864,
$4,000 met and successfully resisted
2 l5l 900 ofthe enemy. AtAppomat-
toX, in 1865, 5000 of them surren-
dered to the host commanded by
Grant. The United States Cover
ment, at the end of the war, mus.
tered out OF service 1000, 900. men.
and had In the field, from first TO
last 2,600.00O. IL The Confederate
soldier had then had only this dis
parity of numbers to contend with,
he would have driven every inva-
der from the soil Of Virginia..
But the Confederate soldier,
fought, i'm addition to these odds,
the facilities, for the transportation
and concentration Of troops and
supplies afforded by the network
of railways in the country north OF
him, all OF which were subject to
the control of the government, and
backed by treasury which was
turning out money by the ton one
dollar of which was worth, sixty
Confederate dollars. ~. ". -yt..
1t should be remembered, also,
that while the South was restricted
to its own territory for supplies,
and its own people for men, the
North drew ON the world for ma
terial and on every nation OF the
earth for men.
The arms and ammunition of the
Federal soldiers were abundant aud
good, so abundant aud so good that
they supplied both armies, and
were greatly preferred by Confed-
crate officers. The equipment OF
the Federal armies was well-nigh
perfect. The facilities for manufae-
ture were simply unlimited, and
the nation thought no expenditure
of treasure too great, IL only the
eountry-the Union !--couId be
saved. The factory and foundry
chimneys made q pillar of smoke
by day and OF fire by night. The
latest improvements were hurried
to the front and adopted by both
armies almost simultaneously for
hardly had the Federals bought
when the Confederates captured and
used the very latest.
i COmmissary stores were piled up
all over Virginia, for the. use oil, the
invading armies. They had more
than they could protect, and their
loss was gain to the hungry defen-
ders of the soil. The Confederate
soldiers fought host of Ills oeca.
stoned by the deprivation OF chlo-
roform and morphia, which were
excluded from the Confederacy as
cOntraband of war. The man who
had submitted to amputation with
Out chloroform, or tossed ON a couch
of agony for a night and q day
without sleep, for the want OF a
dose of morphia, may possibly be
able to estimate the advantages
which resulted from the possession
by the federal surgeons of an un-
limited supply Of these.
The Confederate soldier fought
bOunties and regular monthly pay,
the Stars and Stripes, the Star Span
gled Banner, Hail Columbia, Tramp
Tramp, Tramp, J John Browns Body,
Rally Round the Flag, and all the
fury and fanaticism which skilled
minds could create, opposing this
grand array with the modest and
homely refrain of Dixie, supported
by amid solution of Maryland, My
Maryland. He fought good wag-
On'S, fat horses, and tons OF quar-
ternaster's stores pontoon trains
of splendid material and construct
inKa hxyf tho l1n. rnsalraA. .mrsAn.,
and iron, ana meD-of-war illustra-
ted papers to cheer the boys in blue
with sketches of the glorious deeds
they did not do Ribies by the car
load, and tracts by the million--the
first to prepare them for death and
the second to urge upon them the
duty of dying. $50.
The Confederate soldier fought
the SANITARY Commission" whose
members, armed with every facil-
ity and convenience, quickly car
ried the sick and wounded of the
Federal army to comfortable quar-
ters, removed the bloody garments,
laid the sufferer on a clean and dry
couch, clothed him in clean clothes,
and fed him on the best the world
could afford, and money buy. He
fought the welL-built, thoroughly
equipped ambulances, the countless
surgeons, nurses, and hospital
stewards, and the best surgical
appliances known to the medical
world. He fought the commerce
of the United States and all the
facilities for war which Europe
could supply, while his own ports
were closed to all 1.-THE world. He
fought the trained officers and the
regular troops Of the United States
army, assisted by splendid vOlun-
teer soldiers, besides swarHis ofmen,
the refuse OF the carih-Portuguese,
Spanish, Italian, German, Irish,
Scotch, English, French, IChinese,
apanese-white, black, olive and
brown. He laid down life for life
with this hireling host, who died
far pay--mourned by no one, loved
by no one, who were better fed and
clothed, iatter, happier and more
contented i'm the army tnan ever
they were AT home, and those
graves stTew the earth in lonesome
places, where none go to weep.
When one OF these fell, two could
be bought to fill the gap. Tho
soldier killed these
without cOmpunction, and their
buried them without
tear. r
The Confederate soldier fought
the cries of distress which came
from his home--tales of woe, insult,
and robbery. He fought men who
knew that their homes (when they
had any were safe, their wives and
their parents and sisters
sheltered, and their business affairs
more than usually prosperous, who
could draw sight drafts, have them
hOnOred, and make thefcamp table
as bountiiul and luxurious as that of
Il New York hotel.
He fought government founded
by the genius OF his fathers, which
derived its strength from principles
they formulated, and which per-
suaded its soldicns that they were
the champions of the constitutional
liberty which they were marching
to invade and eventually to destroy.
The relative strength of armies
becomes a matter of secondary inn
portance when these facts are con-
sidered. The disparity Of numbers
only would never have produced
The result which the combination Of
these various forces did-the surren-
der of the Army of Northern Vir-
ginia. RI .I' '+..