Robert Lewis Dabney, Life and Commands of Lieutenand- General Thomas J. Jackson

[479] unavoidable; and among these latter must be reckoned a large part of the ignorance concerning the movements of McClellan, and the proper directions to be taken by the Confederates, by which General Lee found himself so much embarrassed. There were no topographical surveys of the country, and all the general officers were strangers to it. It was a country of numerous intricate roads, of marshy streams, and of forests. Hence every march and every position of the enemy was enveloped in mystery, until it was disclosed in some way at the cost of the Confederates; and every movement made by them in pursuit was in some degree tentative.

Among the unavoidable difficulties may, perhaps, be also ranked that which was, directly or indirectly, the fruitful parent of every miscarriage. The army was not sufficiently instructed, either in its officers or its men, for its great work. The capacity to command, the practical skill and tact, the professional knowledge, the devotion to duty, which make the efficient officer, do not come in a day; and few are the natures which are capable of learning them to a high degree. When the Confederate Government attempted to produce extempore officers of all grades for armies so great, out of a people who had been reared in the pursuits of peace, it could only be partially successful. The company and field officers competent to instruct and govern their men thoroughly, and to keep them to their colors amidst the confusion of battle and the fatigues of forced marches, were far too few for the regiments to be commanded. There were not enough Brigadiers, who knew how to manoeuvre a brigade quickly or vigorously; nor enough Major-Generals able to handle a great mass of troops. Hence that deficiency in the functions of the Staff which has been already explained, by reason of which the commander was ever in imperfect communication with his forces, and was never certain that his wishes