Transcriber’s Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
In the writings of Count Montholon there is the following passage:“On great occasions, it is almost always women who havegiven the strongest proofs of virtue and devotion. The reason isthat, with men, good and bad qualities are, in general, the result ofcalculation, whilst in women they are impulses springing from theheart.”
Macaulay, in one of his essays, speaks of “that perfect disinterestednessand self-devotion of which man seems incapable, but whichis sometimes found in woman.”
This virtue, this perfect disinterestedness and self-devotion, wasmanifested on every side, and on all occasions, by Southern womenduring the Confederate war. Their constancy and fidelity, theirtenderness and courage, their unfailing cheerfulness and patience,have no parallel in the history of human achievement and humansuffering.
Think for a moment of the peculiar circumstances. The soldierson the Northern side fought as the Confederates fought, and wereequally exposed to the fatigue of the march and the hazard of battle.But the Northern soldier was well-clad, well-fed, well-armed.Naught that science and wealth could furnish to make him an effectivecombatant was allowed to remain wanting. The Confederate,on the other hand, was stinted in his food, and, besides, was poorlyequipped in arms and munitions. In a campaign, he was moreoften bare-backed and bare-footed than warmly clothed and well-shod.
Apply the same test to the women. The mothers and wives,sisters and daughters, of the Northern soldiers were worn with anxietyas the Southern women were. The sword of affliction piercedevery heart alike. But there was a striking difference, nevertheless.The bereavement of the Southern maid and matron was more agonizingthan that of the Northern matron and maid, because the Southrisked more of its own flesh and blood than the North risked, familyby family. This is not all. Apart from the fear of ill tidings of thosein service, apart from the anguish that wounds, disease and deathcould bring, the Northern women had no special care or discomfort.They were in no danger themselves. There was no Milroy, no Butler,no Hunter, no Sheridan, no Sherman, to taunt and upbraidthem, to strip them of their most precious mementoes, to steal orscatter their scanty store of provisions and burn their homes overtheir head.
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