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Book III:—the first conflict.
Chapter 1:
Rivers and rail ways.
THE modes of warfare vary in every country according to the nature of the ground.
What is possible on the wide plains of
Germany or in the rich provinces of
Italy becomes impracticable among the mountains of
Switzerland or on the parched and rugged soil of
Spain.
It follows, therefore, that in this recital, which takes us upon another continent, before we judge men, and compare what they have done with what might be accomplished in any stated part of
Europe, we must consider the conditions imposed upon them by the physical characteristics of the country in which they had to operate.
Let us therefore begin by casting a glance over the map of that vast country where, for the last half century, modern civilization, taking a marvellous flight, has developed itself amid the grandeurs, almost intact, of virgin Nature.
What strikes the observer at first is the simplicity of the geographical configuration of the
United States.
We set aside the
Pacific basin, which, closely connected with the other sections of the confederation by political and social affinities, is separated from them by the
Rocky Mountains and the plains which guard the approaches of that wild and desolate chain to the eastward.
Those spacious deserts, which the emigrant crosses without settling, envelop the new States, where he goes to seek his fortune, with a belt that is impassable for large armies.
No great natural divisions are to be met between the foot of the
Rocky Mountains and the
Atlantic borders.
There is but one solitary range of mountains to be seen—that of
the Alleghanies, of great length, but deficient in altitude, extending from north-east to south-west, and consequently not presenting diversities of climate; intersected by numerous rivers of considerable size, divided throughout its whole extent by large and fertile valleys,
