Honouring the greatest fighting machine to march on the face of the earth, The Confederate Soldier
Motivated by the profound emotional connection between military service and the protection of home and family.
TERRIBLE ODDS THE CONFEDERATE SOLDIER FOUGHT AGAINST
The following, although written by a Union officer, ought to be in every school history of the South, so that the children of the men who fought the South's battles should know the odds they contended against. In an article which appeared first in the Century Magazine and afterwards in the third volume of "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War," Union General Buell said: "It required a naval fleet and 15,000 troops to advance against a weak fort, manned by less than 100 men, at Fort Henry; 35,000, with naval cooperation, to overcome 12,000 at Donelson; 60,000 to secure a victory over 40,000 at Pittsburg Landing (Shiloh); 120,000 to enforce the retreat of 65,000 intrenched, after a month's fighting and maneuvering at Corinth; 100,000 repelled by 80,000 in the first Peninsular campaign against Richmond; 70,000, with a powerful naval force, to inspire the campaign which lasted nine months, against 40,000 at Vicksburg; 90,000 to barely withstand the assault of 70,000 at Gettysburg; 115,000 sustaining a frightful repulse from 60,000 at Fredericksburg: 100,000 attacked and defeated by 50,000 at Chancellorsville; 85,000 held in check two days by 40,000 at Antietam; 43,000 retaining the field uncertainly against 38,000 at Stone River (Murfreesboro); 70,000 defeated at Chickamauga, and beleaguered by 70,000 at Chattanooga; 80,000 merely to break the investing line of 45,000 at Chattanooga, and 100,000 to press back 50,000 increased at last to 70,000 from Chattanooga to Atlanta, a distance of 120 miles, and then let go an operation which is commemorated at festive reunions by the standing toast of "One hundred days under fire;" 50,000 to defeat the investing line of 30,000 at Nashville; and, finally, 120,000 to overcome 60,000 with exhaustion after a struggle of a year in Virginia.
In some of the battles thus enumerated by General Buell, the odds were even greater than he states them. To illustrate the implicit confidence with which the Southern soldiers followed their leaders, he draws the following comparison: "At Cold Harbor the Northern troops, who had proven their indomitable qualities by losses nearly equal to the whole of their opponent, when ordered to another sacrifice, even under such a soldier as Hancock, answered the demand as one man---a silent and solid inertia. At Gettysburg Pickett, when waiting for the signal which Longstreet dreaded to repeat, for the hopeless but immortal charge against Cemetery Hill, saluted and said, as he turned to his ready column: "shall move forward, sir."
General Buell then speaks of another influence which nerved the hearts of the Confederate soldiers to valorous deeds: "Nor must we give slight importance to the influence of the Southern women, who in agony of heart girded the sword upon their loved ones and bade them go. It was to be expected that these various influences would give a confidence to leadership that would lead to bold adventure and leave its mark upon the contest."
The writer of these words, which do so much honest justice to the soldiers of the South, was Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell, the man whose timely arrival at Shiloh saved General Grant's army from utter annihilation and capture of what remained. Grant's army was crouched under the banks of the Tennessee River, and would have been captured or killed had not Buell arrived as soon as he did. He is about the only Northern general who has had the honesty to tell the real truth in regard to the numbers engaged on each side during the war.
The "States of Secession's" white populations, number of
troops furnished, and number of troops killed.....1861-1865
There were many from other states, even the north.
I know of no count records on these.
State Pop. #Troops %Pop. # Dead %Troops
1- Alabama 526,271 100,000 19.0 1,466 1.47
2- Arkansas 323,143 45,000 13.9 6,862 15.25
3- Florida 77,746 15,000 19.3 2,346 15.64
4- Georgia 591,550 130,000 22.0 10,974 8.44
5- Louisiana 357,492 53,000 14.8 6,545 12.35
6- Mississippi 353,899 85,000 24.0 15,256 17.95
7- N. Carolina 629,492 127,000 20.2 40,275 31.71
8- S. Carolina 291,300 60,000 20.6 17,682 29.47
9- Tennessee 826,722 115,000 13.9 6,414 5.57
10- Texas 420,891 58,000 13.8 3,849 6.64
11- Virginia 1,047,299 155,000 14.8 14,794 10.48
A BAND of BROTHERS
The Confederate soldiers were our kin folk and our heroes. We testify to the country our enduring fidelity to their memory. We commemorate their valor and devotion. There were some things not surrendered at Appomattox. We did not surrender our rights and history, nor was it one of those conditions of surrender that unfriendly lips should be suffered to tell the story of that war or that unfriendly hands should write the epitaphs of our Confederate dead. We have the right to teach our children the true history of that war, the causes that led up to it and the principles involved. ~ Sen. E.W. Carmack, 1903
The Confederate soldier was in most cases a volunteer. His average age was 21-23, but there were some in their early teens and some in their 60's. Most of which were illiterate and 60-70% were farmers by trade. They worked their land with their own hands and did this without salves.
These Southern patriots were raised under the shadow of The War for Independence. They were brought up to honour and respect that struggle by their fathers and grandfathers. They knew from this up bringing The War for Independence was to insure the people and states the right to rule themselves. It is not too difficult to understand why these Southerners and many Northerners "That's right" Northerners, fought for self rule and state rights.
These Confederate warriors were under fed, under clothed, and almost never paid his $11 a month. They fought until the very end and begged for another go at 'em when Lee surrendered! I ask you, is this men that would fight only for slavery, when they owned no slaves??...No I say!, They were fighting for the very thing their fathers fought for, Independence...PoP
“The cold winter winds began to be felt in the close of the November days….The men were not only thinly-clad, but some, at least, had but little clothing of any kind and a large number were without shoes; and when the first blasts of winter came numbers could be seen shivering over the small fires they were allowed to kindle.
Famine stared them in the face; the ration being from one-eight to one-fourth of a pound of bacon and one pint of unsheived corn meal a day, and occasionally a few beans or peas. With empty stomachs, naked bodies and frozen fingers, these men clutched their guns with an aim so steady and deadly that the men on the other side were exceedingly cautious how they lifted their heads from behind their sheltered places.
These heroic men, who loved their cause better than life stood to their posts, and defied the enemy to the last. The enemy, by general orders and circular letters which they managed to send and scatter among the Confederate soldiers, offered all manner of inducements to have them desert their country; but, as a rule, such offers were indignantly spurned. The consecration of the Southern women to the cause for which their husbands, sons, brothers, and sweethearts struggled and suffered, is beyond the power of the pen to describe. The hardships of these women were equal to, and often greater than that of the shivering, freezing and starving soldier in the field. They had not only given these men to the cause, but, in fact, themselves too; for they remained at home and labored in the fields, went to the mill, the blacksmith shops, lived on cornbread and sorghum molasses, and gave practically every pound of meat, flour and all the vegetables they could raise to the men in the army, whom they encouraged to duty in every possible way. They manufactured largely their own clothing, out of material that they had produced with their own hands; and would have scorned any woman who would wear northern manufactured goods…”
Through this long, cold, dreary winter, Pickett’s Division—less than five thousand strong—held the line which, in length, was not less than four miles; being not many beyond one thousand men to the mile; only a good skirmish line; over which the enemy, by a bold, determined charge, could at any time have gone. It is certain that if the Federal line in front of Pickett’s men had been as weak, and held by as few men as that of Pickett, they would have either been prisoners before the 1st day of January 1865, or have been driven into the James River and drowned.”
(A History of Middle New River Settlements and Contiguous Territory, David E. Johnston, Standard Printing, 1906, pp. 285-288)
'How God Created Confederate Veterans'
Author Unknown
When the Lord was creating Confederate veterans, He was into his tenth day of overtime when a curious angel appeared. "You're certainly putting in a lot of extra effort on this model Lord," the Angel remarked.
And God said, "Have you seen the specifications on this order? A Confederate veteran has to be able to march thirty miles through rough terrain without shoes if required, endure with barely any sleep for days, enter into battle without a break from the march, and keep his weapon clean and operable."
"He has to be able to sit on a forward picket line all night and often during a massive attack, hold his buddies as they die, retreat or advance at a moments notice, and somehow keep his senses alert for danger."
"He has to be in top physical condition, existing on a handful of dried corn and very little rest. And he has to have six pairs of hands."
The angel shook his head slowly and said, "Six pair of hands...no way!"
The Lord says, "It's not the hands that's causing me problems...It's the three pair of eyes a Confederate veteran has to have."
"That's on the standard model?" asked the angel.
The Lord nodded. "One pair that sees through wilderness brush, another pair here in the side of his head for his buddies, another pair here in front that can look reassuringly at his bleeding, fellow soldier and say, "You'll make it"...when he knows he won't."
"Lord, rest and work on this tomorrow."
"I can't," said the Lord. "I already have a model that can carry a wounded soldier one thousand yards during a frontal assault, calm the fears of the latest new veteran, and feed a squad of ten men on a handful of cornbread for three days."
The angel walked around the model and remarked, "Can it think?"
"You bet," said the Lord. "It can quote most of the Bible line by line, recite his weapons drill and company commands by heart, and engage in a division size attack maneuver in less time than it takes for his fellow Confederates back home to read the latest casualty list, and still keep his sense of patriotism."
"This Confederate veteran must also have phenomenal personal control. He can deal with 75 percent casualties, comfort a fallen soldier's family, and then read in the Yankee newspapers how all Confederate soldiers are cowards, slave abusers, traitors, and men of low morals."
The Lord gazed into the future and said, "He will also endure having his name vilified and spit on, and he will be rejected and forgotten by the very Southerners he fought and died for."
Finally, the angel slowly ran his finger across the veteran's cheek, and said, "There's a leak...I told you Lord that you were trying to put too much into this model."
"That's not a leak," said the Lord. "That's a tear."
"What's the tear for?" asked the angel.
"It's for bottled up emotions, for holding fallen soldiers as they die, and for commitment to that funny piece of cloth they call the Confederate Battle Flag."
"You're a genius," said the angel, casting a glance at the lonely tear.
The Lord looked very somber, as if seeing down eternity's distant shores..."I didn't put it there," he said!
Confederate Soldier-Christians and the Impact of War on Their Faith
From the publisher:
This book is about war’s impact on the religious faith of individual Confederate Christian soldiers. The tribulations of war drove these men to new spiritual heights; and after the war, these men took up leadership positions in their postwar churches. This study closely traces the spiritual progression of individual Christian soldiers.
