CHAPTER EIGHT - FIRST HOSTILITIES
BULL RUN
The population of the newly Confederated States, four times less numerous than that of the Northern States[1], but better prepared for the job of war by the conditions of its daily life, was rapidly organized ; and the first successes were for her. Besides, the North had a complete confidence in the superiority of its scrength, and did not seem in a hurry to use it. It considered the rebellion as a flash in the pan that would die out by itself. The means used to limit its extension proved to be insufficient.
Surprised by its failures , he North was to make, before our own country[2], the cruel experience that cost us so much. To decree the conscription of men is easy. To find the money to equip them and feed them is also possible, but the military qualities, the discipline, the experience, the power of endurance -- the whole moral and physical preparation that is necessary for officers and soldiers -- can′t be decreed.
With blasts of dollars, the North made many cannons ;
- ↑ According to The Count of Paris, the difference would even be greater. His calculations evaluate the number of men capable of bearing arms in the North at 4 million ; in the South, at 680,000. He adds that, in the South, 351,000 men were enrolled the first year.
- ↑ France -- Mrs. Boissonnas is French.
