Good management of the enemy.
‘It is only fair to say that the Confederate management seems to have been excellent from first to last. The energy which brought a force from Western Georgia to the coast of Carolina so opportunely that it got in position only ten minutes before the main action opened, the audacity and adroitness which checked the advance of a whole brigade for several hours with one (2) gun and a few dismounted cavalry, and the soldierly ability with which artillery and infantry were so handled, as to inflict a loss of 750 men, while losing only 50, all deserve the highest praise; on their side good generalship, on ours the reverse.’ On the day of Honey Hill the disastrous Battle of Franklin was fought; then quickly followed the burning of Atlanta, the fall of Savannah, the burning of Columbia, Averysboro, Bentonville and the surrenders at Goldsboro and Appomattox! The Confederate armies! how memory goes back to their wonderful achievements! Their high soldierly qualities! Their whole career, marked by a virile spirit; a decisive energy; a brave persistence; a patient endurance, which reflect the high military qualities of the men of the same race, ‘kin beyond sea,’ who won victory for Wolfe at Quebec! Made Ingliss hold Lucknow against fearful odds! and who planted the Cross of St. George on the walls of Delhi, in the midst of the mutiny! If a like success did not attend finally the grand achievements [241] of the soldiers of the South the causes may be traced, partly to disparity of numbers and resources, and partly to other serious disabilities of a different kind, which the loyalty of the armies to the flag and the forbearance of the people in their homes for the sake of ‘The Cause’ have forbid all reference to or mention! Lee wore the gray! Since then'Tis right's and honor's hue!
He honored it, that man of men,
And wrapped it round the true.
Wm. A. Courtenay. Innisfallen, October, 1898.
