there are some facts worth considering by those who imagine that such a country as the Southern Confederacy can be readily subjugated if it is determined to be free.
What has the enemy done already that the end is at hand?
there have been four years of war, and such war as has been rarely seen on this planet.
in April, 1861,
Mr. Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand men. In may, of the same year, He called for sixty-four thousand.
From July to December He called for five hundred thousand. in July, 1862, He called for three hundred thousand; in August, 1862, for three hundred thousand; in 1863 He drafted three hundred thousand, and made a draft for five hundred thousand; in 1864, three hundred thousand more.
With his last call and draft, this will make about two millions and a half of men called out to quell what the New York
Herald designates "a gigantic riot." what has been accomplished by the two millions summoned to the field before the present call?
with the headquarters and heart of the rebellion at
Richmond, only a hundred and twenty miles from
Washington, the
Federal metropolis and base and half the way affording water facilities for transportation, seven different commanders have led immense armies armed and equipped with every appliance of war that the wealth of the
United States could purchase, and yet this outpost of the rebellion still stands unconquered and defiant.
The march of
Sherman through a portion of our vast territory is nothing more than the track of a ship on the ocean.
The waves close around as it recedes, and bear no permanent trace of its progress.
The capture of our seaports is no more than occurred in the first Revolution; and instead of being a matter of glorification to the
United States, it is the
Confederacy which has reason to exult that, for four years, without a Navy, it has been able to hold those sea-side villages against a naval Power which boasts that it has seven hundred ships of war.
we have before us certain statistics, published by a leading New York journal in 1864, which clearly establish the fact, that if the
Confederacy succumbs in this contest it will not be from the want of material strength.
The writer first ascertains, from the census of 1860, the population of the
Confederacy at the beginning of the war. The third column of the following table exhibits the result of that inquiry.
He leaves out of the estimate more than half the white population of
Arkansas; 530,000 of the white population of
Kentucky; half the same population of
Maryland; 600,000 of that of
Missouri; 300,000 of that of
Tennessee; 300,000 of that of
Virginia; besides small fractions for one or two other States:
| total Population in 1860. | slaves in 1860. | white Secession Population in 1860. |
| Alabama | 961,201 | 435,030 | 526,431 |
| Arkansas | 435,450 | 111,115 | 200,000 |
| Florida | 140,425 | 61,745 | 77,778 |
| Georgia | 1,007,286 | 462,198 | 591,588 |
| Kentucky | 1,155,684 | 225,483 | 400,000 |
| Louisiana | 708,002 | 331,726 | 357,629 |
| Maryland | 687,049 | 87,189 | 650,000 |
| Mississippi | 791,305 | 436,631 | 353,901 |
| Missouri | 1,182,012 | 114,931 | 400,000 |
| North Carolina. | 992,622 | 331,100 | 631,100 |
| South Carolina | 703,708 | 402,406 | 291,388 |
| Tennessee | 1,109,801 | 275,719 | 500,000 |
| Texas | 604,215 | 182,566 | 421,294 |
| Virginia | 1,596,318 | 490,865 | 600,000 |
| totals | 12,125,078 | 3,950,500 | 5,711,109 |
by adding the totals in the last two columns, we get 9,661,609, which was the total Secession Population of the
Southern and Border States in 1860.
the writer then gives the following table, the third column of which is obtained from official documents of the
Confederacy:
| Men from 18 to 45 in 1860. | Youths between 14 and 18, in 1860. | Troops furnished by each State up to Aug. 15,64 |
| Alabama | 131,000 | 18,000 | 70,000 |
| Arkansas | 62,000 | 10,000 | 40,000 |
| Florida | 19,000 | 2,000 | 8,000 |
| Georgia | 147,000 | 20,000 | 80,000 |
| Kentucky | 100,000 | 15,000 | 40,000 |
| Louisiana | 89,000 | 10,000 | 70,000 |
| Maryland | 80,000 | 10,000 | 40,000 |
| Mississippi | 88,000 | 10,000 | 50,000 |
| Missouri | 100,000 | 15,000 | 60,000 |
| N. Carolina | 157,000 | 20,000 | 60,000 |
| S. Carolina | 78,000 | 10,000 | 40,000 |
| Tennessee | 175,000 | 20,000 | 60,000 |
| Texas | 105,000 | 15,000 | 50,000 |
| Virginia | 261,000 | 25,000 | 450,000 |
| Totals | 1,602,000 | 200,000 | 818,000 |
It appears from this table that the available military strength of the
Confederacy, from the beginning up to last autumn, was 1,602,000 men. Of these, 818,000 had been called unto the field, of which it is estimated that 300,000 have perished in battle and by disease, and 800,000 more have been lost from other causes.
Even supposing this estimate correct, there would still remain in the
Confederacy a full million of men capable of bearing arms.
Or, if military events which have occurred since the first publication of these statements have made two-thirds of that number unavailable, there is a sufficient residue, with the negro troops requested by
General Lee, to render the subjugation of such a population and such a territory impracticable.
It is impossible that a people like ours, with such advantages, can be conquered unless they forsake God and forsake themselves.
There never just has been a vital want of our condition which
Providence has not supplied.
If it was powder, if it was guns, if it was lead, it came at the right time.
But we cannot expect
Providence always to help those who, like the children of Israel in the wilderness, continue to distrust the hand which has worked such wonders in their behalf.
If we expect that, we demand more than He vouchsafed to His chosen people when they doubted that His power would be as great in the future as the past, and dared not cross into Cansan because of the giants, the sons of Amak.
If we would not be condemned to wander many long years in the wilderness of war, we must cease to disturb our imaginations with giants, and have some faith in God and in ourselves.
