Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1883-01-11


The following interesting and truthful sketch
of the difficulties and dangers with which the
Confederate soldier had to contend, and the
cause of his final failure, is taken from Nc
Carthy's ''Soldier Life in the Army of North
ern Virginia."
"The Confederate soldier opposed immense
odds. In the Seven Days Battles around
Richmond, $4,000 drove to the James River
145, 900 of the enemy. At Fredericksburg, in
1862 $4,000 of them routed 10000 Federal
troops At Charlottesville in 1868, $1,000
under Lee and Jackson whipped, and but for
the death of Jackson, would have annlhllated
an army of $4,000 men-more than double
their own number. At Gettysburg, 1000 of
them assailed the heights manned by 1l2,OOO.
At the Wilderness, in 1864, $4,000 met and
successfully resisted 141, 900 Of the enemy.
At Appomattox, in 1865, 5000 of them surren-
dered to the host commanded by Grant. The
United States Government at the end of the
war. mustered out of service 1000, 900 of men,
and had in the field, from first to last, 2,GOO,-
600. If the Confederate soldier had then had
only this disparity of numbers to contend
with, he would have driven every invader
from the soil of Virginia.
s'But the Confederate soldier fought, in ad-
dition to these odds, the facilities for the
transportation and concentration of troops
and supplies afforded by the network of rail-
WAYS in the country north of him, all of which
was subject to the control of the Government,
and backed by a treasury which was turning
out money by the ton one dollar Of which was
equal to sixty Confederate dollars.
at should be remembered also that, while
the South was restricted to it's own territory
for supplies, and its own people for men, the
North drew on the world for material, and
every nation of the earth for men:
''The arms and ammunition of the Federal
soldiers were abundant and good-so abun-
dant and so good that they supplied both az
mics, and were greatly preferred by Confeder-
ate officers. The equipment of the Federal
armies was we'll nigh perfect. The facilities
for manufacture were simply unlimited, and
the nation thought no expenditure of treasure
too great, if only the country, and the Union !!
could be saved. The factory and the foundry
chimneys made 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 Confeder-
ates captured and used the very latest.
"Commssary stores were piled up Ill over
Virginia. for the use of the invading armies
They had more than they could protect, and
their loss was given to the hungry defenders
of the SOIL
"The Confederate soldier fought host of ills
occasioned by the deprivation of chloroform
and morphia, which were excluded from the
Confederacy by the blockade, as contraDand OF
war. The man who has submitted to ampu-
tation without chloroform, or tossed on a
couch of agony for night and day, without
sleep, for the want of dose OF morpha, may
possibly be able to estimate the advantages
which resulted from the possession Of the Fed
eral surgeons, of IN unlimited supply of these.
"The Confederate soldier fought bountes
and regular monthly pay ; the "Stars and
Stripes the 'Stai Spangled Banner Hail
Columbia Tramp, Tramp, Tramp John
Browns Body Rally Round the Flag and
all the fury aud fanaticism which skilled minds
could create-opposing this grand array with
the modest and honlely refrain of ''DiXle, sup
ported by mild solution of Maryland, my
Maryland' lie fought good wagons, fat
horses, and tons of quarter-maSter's stores
pontoon trains, of splendid material and con-
struction, by the mile ; gunboats, wooden and
! iron, and men-of-war illustrated papers to
cheer the 'Boys in Blue with sketches of the
glorious deeds they did not do; Bibles by the
car load, and tracts by the millon-the first,
to prepare them for death and the second, to
urge upon them the duty Of dying.
S'The Confederate soldier fought the SAM
! tary Commission whose members, armed
with every facility and convenience, quickly
carried the sick and wounded of the Federal
army to comfortable quarters, removed the
/ bloody garments, laid the sufferer Oh a clean
and dry couch, clothed him in clean things,
and fed him on the best the world could afford
and money buy"