The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-10-11
Military Aptitude of the South.

Portland Oregonian.
 correspondent. whose letter is pub-
 Hshed in another column, quotes the
 recent rema.k of The Oregonian that the Sclthern blood of President Roosevelt
 explains somewhat his pugnacity. his
 military aptitude. his love of outdoor sports, his impulsiveness. his frankness and his love of frontal assaults rather
 than strata gems in politics." and draw Ing some conclusions which are just and
 some whici. are without warrant asks
 The oregonian for an explanation. Our correspondent evidently needs to be told that unfinching courage in battle may be manifested without the nossessjon of sl,- pc r1or natural pugnacity or superior mill ltary aptitude; that of two honest and upright statesmen ,ne may be as impul- slVe, frank, genial and aggressive as Clay and the other as reticent, cold and delib- eratlVe as Webster: that whether a man always strikes from the shoulder or cau- uously sparS for advantage no more im- rlies trcacherous nature in politics than It does in war; 1t Is merely matter of t6 t6mperament. To attribute certain strongly marked qualities of Presid ent Roosevelt somewhat to his Southern blood not only is not extravagant, but it implies no depreciation of the Northern cnaracter; it only notes well-recCgnized diHerence between the Northern and Southern temperament. which is due something to stock and a good deal more prohablY to diftt renee of social and in duStrial environment
 fassing by as unworthy of serious con- sideration the peaceful frolic of the Bos- ton Tea Party and ''the embattled farm CTS taking pot shots at the redc oats on their retreat from Lexington and Concord, The Oregonian is prepared to maintain that ln native pugnacity and military aptitude the Civil War found the South better fitted for battle than it did the North. Lieutenant-Colonel Francis ". Palfrey. Of the 10th Massachusetts volun- teers, at whose head he was severely hn TA the Southern men fight better than the Northern men. and if they did, why did they?' Colonel Palfrey comedies that greater results were hahitually achieved tens of thousands of Lees army than by an equal number of the Army of the Potomac. There was no difference in the patriotic zeal of the two armies. but the the North made the Southern soldiers fonder of fighting than the Northern men. The tntenser and more passionate char acter of the Southerner. as compared lawless life (not to speak Individuality at the South, where the population was scattered and the gun came ready to the hand, made the Southern man an apter steady going recruit from the North
 The SouthernerS showed that they felt what the old Romans called "the gau- dium certaminis." the joy of the con
 
 obey orders, ready to do the work to which they had set their hands, ready to die in their tracks if need be. but they did not go to battle as to a feast. With officers and men it was the same. They did not like fighting. Sheridan, Hancock. Kearny, Custer. Barlow and such as they. were exceptions, but the rule was otherwise. Major General Don Carlos Buell., Northern born and bred man, graduate of West Point, distin- guished for personal gallantry in the Mexican War, who commanded the Union forces in the campaign against Bragg. which eliminated in the severe battle of Perryville. and personally handled 200 900 men at the second day of Shiloh, has dis- cusSed the same question in his military General Buell. reaches the same conclusion as Colonel Palfrey. to-wit. that while there was no difference in the matter of patriotic courage that enables a soldier to die in his tracks between the average Northern and Southern soldier there was very marked difference in natural pugnacity and military aptitude In favor of the South. Buelis troops were men of industrial training, mechan- cs. farmers, men of orderly. peaceful an- -ecedents, while the rank and file of the south were drawn from the poor white ,lass, hardy men, of excellent stock, ca to the daily use of arms and to consider physical courage the highest human virtue.
 General Buell. confesses that when he vas neither outnumbered nor outgeneral- ad he was sometime Cutfought by an en- amy that possessed. not greater courage patiently to do and die, but far greater 'reature pugnaCitv. The conclusion of General Buell. is that. compared with the Northern man, the Southern soldier en- cred the war far more familiar with he use of arms, was by temperament a nore intense and passionate man, was more pugnacious and far fond r of fighting than the average Northern nan. Of course. discipline and experience inally made it a splendid body of soldiers md yet from first to last there was no ime probably when the Army of the Pc omac was the equal man for man, in military aptitude and pugnacity to the Army of Northern Virginia; 1t was its 'qlal in courage, in endurance. In pa but not in that natural pug laCity that makes mon ike fighting. The irish are not only celebrated for courage. put they are a pugnacious people; they 'njoy a fight under any honorable flag. The English are very Coura gCouS peO- )lc, but they do not love fighting for ighting's sake; they are not a military people, like the French, who have pas ion for military glory. This Is entirely outside of question of generalship. Italy las been the birthplace of more great Generals than either England or Ireland. So far as outdoor sports are concerned, he South was a land of bold horsemen md ardent foxhunters from the days of he Revolution. and as 1t is an agricul- ural region of sparse population such sports obtained more devotees than they
 id at the North.