The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-07-18
Comparative valor Of the Northern and
Southern TrOoDa

| In his address at Orange, N. ], on
in speaking of the frequent assertion
that the Southern troops exceeded their
| Northern brethren in valor. said:
at is sometimes claimed that the val
or of the Southern was superior to that
of the Northern soldier. / do not know
upon what ground this claim is based.
Fighting on interior lines and generally
upon grounds of their own choosing,
our opponents had frequent success: So
long as they remained on the soil where
ninety-nine hundredths of the people
were friendly to them they necessarily
possessed superior facilities for infor-
nation, Of which they were quick to
take advantage. But when they came
upon Northern soil, whether they came
in small or large parties, the tables
were turned and they were invariably
defeated and compelled to retire. The
gallant charge of Pickett's division was
surpassed by the heroic charge OF the
Sixth Corps on Mary's Heights; and no
drawer or more desperate fighting was
ever done by any troops than by The
Army of the Potomac under Burnside
in the unfortunate first battle Of Fred
ericksburg. The battles OF the Wilder
ness exhibited pluck and endurance
unsurpassed in history. The Bloody
Angle" at Spottsylvania is immortal
lied in the annals Of war, for there bull
let's fell like hail until the very trees
were mown down and the shades of hell
seemed to have usurped the fair fields
of the Mother of Presidents.
Can the South furnish para lei to
the chargee at Vicksburg and Port HUI
ron or to the assault at Wagner when
the gallant Shaw was buried deep under
the bodies of his brave negroes, whom
the rebels, yea and many Northern men
declared could not be made to fight. 1t
is said that General Hooker early in the
war insisted that he had never seen a
dead cavalryman, but he saw plenty of
them at Brandy Station, and the reck-
less daring of Colonel Kinsley of the
Pennsylvania Cavalry at Fort Royal
and Farnsworth at Gettysburg, is
worthy of an epic as was the charge of
the Light Brigade at Balaklava. do
not mean to underrate the valor of the
men who contested the ground with
us for four long years. They were
Americans and it goes without saying
that they were brave and enduring.
On the fields of Mexico, North and
South won equal honor, and should a
foreign war come, (and God grant to
avert all war from this nationD the
united North and South will be irwin
chile. The Southern soldier was more
impulsive, more exci'able, more fiery if
you please, but the Northern combatant
il always seemed to me, had more stay
ing qualities. Was there ever another
such exhibition of persistency as shown
by the indomitable and immortal Grant
and the Army of the Potomac, IN the
march by the left flank from the Rapi-
dan to the James? The attempt to
reach Richmond by the direct route
met with daily repulse, and with
an unprecedented slaughter that
would have disheartened any other
army in the world.
1t is estimated that 10000 men were
placed horS du combat in this terrible
march, (the returns were incOmple),
and the officers whose ability was
never questioned counseled a withdraw
al after Spottsylvania. But the clarion
notes of Grant, We'll fight it out on
this line if it takes all summer" revived
the disheartened and the army pushed
its way to the James River, depleted in
numbers but unimpaired in morale and
esprit de corps; as noble body of men
as ever bore arms in defense of liberty
aud right. God bless the army of the
Potomac; yea, and all the armies of the
United States, for there can be no in-
vidious comparisons in a struggle in
which all ware inspired with the same
high purpose and did their whole duty
as men and patriots:
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs out to do and die.
Into the Valley Of Death
Rode the six hundred"