The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1905-09-06
The VERY BEST.
A Grand Tribute to the Soldiers
OF the Confederacy.
FOUGHT GREAT ODDS

spect Them. Some Interesting
Facts and Figures from
Friend aud Foe.
The subjoinsd extracts are taken
from the writings OF Rev. J. William
Jones, WHO was first q private anc
se,ved in the ranks, then a chaplain
to the close Of the war These extracts
are taken from Vol. MI, "Confed7r-
ate Military Eistory." The author IS
now Chaplain General CT the United
Confederate Nsterans. Duslng the
war he was fttingly designated as tie
Fighting Parson. Chaplain Jones
is man OF marked ability, with both
pen a1d tongue. He is a Baptist
minister. In his testimony before
the committee on the conduct OF une
war" Major Genene1al Hooker
Fighting Joe" he was affsctlonately
and appropriately called by his nec-
uses this remarkable and emphatic
language:
'sOur artillery had always been su
perior to that CT tbs rebels, as was
also our infantry, except in discipline,
and that, tor reasons not necessary to
mention, never did equal Lees army.
With rank and file vastly inferior to
our own intellectually and physically,
that army had, by dicipline alone, &c
ouired a character for steadiness and
efficiency unsurpassed, in my judge
ment, in ancient OF modegn times.
We hsye not been able to rival it."
Now, we may fully accept the lat
ter part OF this statement OF General
Eooker's as to the chatacser Ct the
Confederate army, without ccncedlng
that it was due alone tie discipline. 1t
vas my privilege to be member OF
the army Ct Northern Virginia. As q
private soldier or as Chaplain follow
ed it's flag from Harper's Ferry in 81
to Appcmattox in IS, mingling 1reely
with the men in camp, on the march,
in the bivouac, on the battlefield, and
in the hospital. I knew its most con.
spiclous leaders aud made 1t my eS
pecial business to know the heroes OF
the rank and file. I marched With
them alorg the weary road, biV5uack-
ed With them in the pelting storm,
went with them into the leaden and
iron hail CT battle, ninistered to them
In the loathsome hospitals, lao0reo
with among them in those glorious re-
vivals which made we'll nigh every
camp vocal with Gods praises, result
ting in the profssssd conversion OF
over Is, 900 men; rejoiced with them
in that long series Of brilliant victories
which have Illustrated brightest pages
of American history, and wept with
them when Lee was compelled to
yield to overwelming nun nbers and re-
sources"
Since the war I have carefully
studied the official reports on both
sides and everything that has been
published which throws any light on
the history Of that army. I am pre-
pared, therefore, not only to fully in
dorse General Hookers's opinion CT
the infantry OF the army Of Northern
Virginia, but to go further and say
that our artillery, though inferior IN
guns, ammunition and equipment,
was always q match for that to which
it was exposed; that the men who
rode with Turner Asaby, Wade
hampton and FiEz Lee, or followed
the feather OF "Jsb" Stuart, though
greatly inferior in mount and equip
ment to the Federal cavalry, were
masters Of the situation on any fair
fields; and that the army OF Northern
Virginia as a whole, was, IN gallant
dash, steady resistance, patient en-.
durance, heroic courage, and al other
Qualities which 60 to make up the best
soldiers, not only unrivaled, as the
gallant general says, by the army OF
the Potomac, but the equals CT any
other army that eyer marched under
any flag, OF fought Tor any cause.
And give equal honor to the other
armies OF the Contederacy. The 4nen
who defended Fort Sumter and Char
lesion and Savannah and Mobile and
Fort Fisher; who fought under Albert
Sidney johnson, Beauregard, Bragg,
Joseph E. Johnson, Hood, Stepen D.
Lee, Pem5erton, Van Dorm, Price,
Dick Taylor, Kirby Smith, Forrest,
Joe Wheeler, John Morgan, and
Others, were the peers OF those who
followed Lee an6 StoneWau Jackson
and deserve equal praise. The world
never saw better soldiers than those
who composed the Confederate armies.
But We must utterly repudiate the
reason General Hooker assigns for the
efficiency OF the Confederate soldiers.
So far from it's being due to "Giscip-
line slone"-so far from its being
true that the Contederates were
VASTLY inferior, Intellectually and
physically" to the soldiers on the
other side it can be abundantly dem
onstrated that just the reverse Is
nearer the truth, and that the world
never saw an army composed OF more
superb material, Intellectually, paysi'
caUy and morally, in all that consti-
tutes what we call morale in an army,
than the armies Of the Confederate
States OF America.
But perhaps the best evidence OF
the morale Of the Confederate armies
is their achievements, notwithstand.
ing the immense odds in numbers, re.
sources and equipment against which
they fought. The population OF the
Northern States was about 20, 900, ,00O
while the population Of the Confeder'
ate States was only 100000 whites
There we're enlisted in the Fedora
armies, as shown by the official re
ports, 1854 27z men, while there were
mustered il the Confederate armies
LI-1 - ..1r ono 0nn man Tho h1ncR