For very nearly a year now I had done very little that was at all satisfactory to myself, or at all really helpful that is, helpful in a large and positive way to the Confederate cause; whereas, all this time I might have been carrying on a series of important operations at the North. It looked, indeed, like a great waste of time ; but, if it was wasted, I resolved to do my best to redeem it, by the activity of my performances in the future; and I had great reason to hope that these performances would be productive of not unimportant results.
It required but a slight acquaintance with the condition of affairs to discover that the surface indications of wealth, prosperity, and overpowering strength at the North were delusive. The North certainly was wealthy and powerful; but, unfortunately for the Federal government's efforts to conquer the South, and to put a speedy end to the war, the people were very far from being united.
United Public Sentiment at the South.
At the South there were few, if any, genuine adherents of the Federal government, and public opinion was united on the subject of achieving independence. At the period of which I am writing the winter of 1863-64 there may have been, and doubtless were, many persons who were heartily tired of the war, and who would have been glad of peace on almost any terms. The vast majority, however, were still in favor of fighting the thing out, in spite of poverty, and in spite of the privations of every kind which they were compelled to suffer.
At the North, on the other hand, the majority of the people had entered upon the war with reluctance ; many who did go into it with considerable enthusiasm, with the idea of preserving the Union, were disgusted when it became day by day more apparent that the emancipation of the slaves was a part of the policy of the government ; many who went into it for the sake of seeing some fighting were heartily tired, and wanted to stop; and many more, who were eager enough to begin a fight, simply out of animosity to the Southerners, sickened of the thing when their pockets were touched by the enormous advance in prices, and by the heavy taxes which the prolongation of the contest necessitated, and were quite willing for peace at almost any price.
