CHAP. LVIII.] CONDITION OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY.

Its great privations.

477

stragglers from the army? that brave and true men should have fallen out from sheer exhaustion, or in their efforts to obtain a mouthful to eat along the roadsides? or that many seasoned veteransthe conquerors in the Valley, at Richmond, and at Manassas-should have succumbed to.disease, and been forced back to the hospital? I look to hear a great outcry against the stragglers. Already lazy cavalrymen and dainty staff officers and quartermasters, who are mounted and can forage the country for something to eat, are con demning the weary private, who, notwithstanding his body may be covered with dust and perspiration, and his feet with stone-bruises, is expected to trudge along under his knapsack and cartridge-box, on an empty stomach, and never turn aside for a morsel of food to sustain his sinking limbs. Out upon such monstrous injustice! That there has been unnecessary straggling is readily admitted, but in a large majority of cases the men have only to point to their bleeding feet, tattered garments, and gaunt frames for an answer to the unjust charge. No army on this continent has ever accomplished as much or suffered as much as the Army of Northern Virginia within the last three months. At no period during the first Revolutionary War, not even at Valley Forge, did our forefathers in arms encounter greater hardships or endure them more uncomplainingly.

The necessity of

"But, great as have been the trials to which the army has been subjected, they are hardly worthy sustaining it. to be named in comparison with the sufferings in store for it this winter, unless the people of the Confederate States every where, and in whatever circumstances, come to its immediate relief. The men must have clothing and shoes this winter. They must have something to cover themselves. when sleeping, and to protect themselves from the driving sleet and snow-storms

478

CONDITION OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY.

[SECT. XI.

when on duty. This must be done, though our friends at home should have to wear cotton and sit by the fire. The Army of Virginia stands guard this day, as it will stand guard this winter, over every hearthstone throughout the South. The ragged sentinel who may pace his weary rounds this winter on the bleak spurs of the Blue Ridge, or along the frozen valleys of the Shenandoah and Rappahannock, will be your sentinel, my friends, at home. It will be for you and your household that he encounters the wrath of the tempest and the dangers of the night. He suffers, and toils, and fights for you too, brave, truehearted women of the South. Will you not clothe his nakedness, then? Will you not put shoes and stockings on his feet? Is it not enough that he has written down his patriotism in crimson characters from the Rappahannock to the Potomac? And must his bleeding feet also impress the mark of fidelity upon the snows of the coming winter?

in Maryland,

"It was hoped at one time that we might obtain winIts disappointment ter supplies in Maryland. This hope was born after the army left Richmond, and has now miserably perished. The government is unable to furnish the supplies, for they are not to be had in the country.'

desertion.

In truth, the condition of the retreating Confederate army was now to the last degree deplorable. It was ragged, barefoot, hatless, and winter was coming on. It had not gathered the expected plunder of Philadelphia, and reduction by nor touched the ransom of New York. Desertion went on without a parallel. The President and other officers of the Confederate and state governments were constrained to appeal to the women to frown on the deserters, and secure their apprehension. In this the Southern press earnestly joined. It was affirmed that half the soldiers from certain por

CHAP. LVIII.]

END OF LEE'S SORTIE.

479

tions of the states had escaped to their homes without leave.

Brave as they were, the Confederate troops had failed to break through the investing line. Their sortie had culminated at Antietam.

The end of Lee's sortie.

Win

ter found them on the southern side of the Rappahannock.

SECTION XII.

THE BLOCKADE, AND OPERATIONS CONNECTED WITH IT.

CHAPTER LIX.

NAVAL OPERATIONS CONNECTED WITH THE BLOCKADE.

On the establishment of the blockade, it was found necessary to have a Southern naval station for the supply and repair of the ships. Port Royal, in South Carolina, was therefore seized for that purpose.

From Port Royal an expedition was sent out, which reduced Fort Pulaski and completed the blockade of Georgia. Another expedition, which was also successful, was dispatched to the coast of Florida.

From Fortress Monroe expeditions were sent to the North Carolina coast. One, under Butler, occupied Hatteras; another, under Burnside, occupied Roanoke Island and places in its vicinity.

The Confederate government commissioned privateers.

VERY soon after the inauguration of Lincoln the proc lamation of a blockade of the Southern ports was issued (p. 27). In the opinion of foreign nations this blockade was effectually maintained.

On its part, the Confederacy resorted to the authorization of privateers. Some of these sailed from American, some from English ports.

A consideration of this portion of the naval transacClassification of tions is therefore, perhaps, best conducted naval affairs. by grouping the various events under two heads: 1st, those in relation to the blockade; 2d, those in relation to privateers. Respecting the former, it is expedient not to relate them in their strict order of occurrence, but rather, viewing them in the aggregate, to give

CHAP. LIX.] A SOUTHERN NAVAL STATION NECESSARY.

481

precedence to the more important facts, arranging the others so that their mutual connection may be perceived. The privateering operations may be more appropriately considered in the next volume.

Necessity of a

station.

THE HARBOR OF PORT ROYAL.

The blockade once established, it was found necessary, for its effective maintenance, to have a large Southern raval naval station at some point near the centre of the line. For the first time in history, a great fleet of steam-ships had been employed for blockad ing purposes, and, to enable it to keep the sea without long voyages for supplies and repairs, docks and machine shops near at hand were required. All kinds of stores were demanded-munitions of war, powder, shot, shell, provisions, medicines, coal, fresh meats, ice, fresh water. Supply-ships, in a continuous line, were passing from II.-H H