federate arms in the field, combined with the privations caused by the constantly increasing efficiency of the blockade, at length compelled all classes of people at the South to realize the fact that they had a tough job on their hands, and that if they expected to obtain their independence it would be necessary for them to work, and to work hard for it.
In many respects, the victory at Bull Run was anything but a benefit to the South. The panic which overtook the Federal soldiers, so far from communicating itself to the people of the North, only inspired them with a determination to wipe out the disgrace, and they hurried men to the front with such rapidity and in such, numbers, that they soon had a force in the field which compelled the Confederates to act upon the defensive, and to think about the means of resisting invasion instead of attempting to assume the aggressive. On the other hand, not only the men who fought at Bull Run, but the whole South, were greatly elated at having won the first great battle; and, overestimating the importance of their victory, they were more than ever impressed with the idea that whipping the Yankees was a remarkable easy thing to do.
Relaxation in Discipline
.
The result of all this was, that discipline in the army, instead of being kept up to the best standard, was relaxed, and hundreds of good fighting men, who thought that the war was virtually over, were permitted to go home, while many others lounged round the camps, or went to Richmond, for the purpose of having a good time, when they ought to have been following up their success by further blows at the enemy.
It is easy enough now to see the mistakes that were made, and any narrative of the war would be incomplete were not some note made of them. I do not pretend, however, that I was any wiser at the time than other people, or that I had any better appreciation of the magnitude of the task we had before us. Experience is a bitter teacher ; and Experience in this case was too late in giving her instructions for it to do any good.
As for myself, I was just like hundreds of other young officers, eager to fight as much for the excitement of the thing as anything else ; but having little comprehension of the real situation, or the gigantic obstacles which stood in the way of the realization of our hopes, I chafed at the inactivity which
