oud,
resolute, independent; both were inspired by the same sentiments of
self-respect; noblesse oblige--the noblesse of a free people--was the
motto of the one as of the other. It has been asserted that the
Federal armies were very largely composed of foreigners, whose
motives for enlisting were purely mercenary. At no period of the war,
however, did the proportion of native Americans sink below seventy
per cent.,* (* See Note at end of chapter.) and at the beginning of
1863 it was much greater. As a matter of fact, the Union army was
composed of thoroughly staunch soldiers.* (* "Throughout New
England," wrote the Special Correspondent of an English newspaper,
"you can scarcely enter a door without being aware that you are in a
house of mourning. Whatever may be said of Irish and German
mercenaries, I must bear witness that the best classes of Americans
have bravely come forth for their country. I know of scarcely a
family more than one member of which has not been or is not in the
ranks of the army. The maimed and crippled youths I meet on the
highroad certainly do not for the most part belong to the immigrant
rabble of which the Northern regiments are said to consist; and even
the present conscription is now in many splendid instances most
promptly and cheerfully complied with by the wealthy people who could
easily purchase exemption, but who prefer to set a good example."
Letter from Rhode Island, the Times, August 8, 1863.) Nor was the
alien element at this time a source of weakness. Ireland and Germany
supplied the greater number of those who have been called "Lincoln's
hirelings;" and, judging from the official records, the Irish
regiments at least were not a whit less trustworthy than those purely
American. Moreover, even if the admixture of foreigners had been
greater, the Army of the Potomac, for the reason that it was always
superior in numbers, contained in its ranks many more men bred in the
United States than the Army of Northern Virginia.* (* John Mitchell,
the Irish Nationalist, said in a letter to the Dublin Nation that
there were 40,000 Irishmen in the Southern armies. The Times,
February 7, 1863.) For the consistent ill-success of the Federals the
superior marksmanship and finer horsemanship of the Confederates
cannot, therefore, be accepted as sufficient explanation.

In defence the balance of endurance inclined neither to one side nor
the other. Both Southerner and Northerner displayed that stubborn