as not built in a day, nor can
we expect miracles in our favour."* (* Lee to Hood, May 21, 1863;
Advance and Retreat page 58.) Yet, taking them all in all, the
American rank and file of 1863, with their native characteristics,
supplemented by a great knowledge of war, were in advance of any
soldiers of their time.

In the actual composition of the Confederate forces no marked change
had taken place since the beginning of the war. But the character of
the army, in many essential respects, had become sensibly modified.
The men encamped on the Rappahannock were no longer the raw recruits
who had blundered into victory at the First Manassas; nor were they
the unmanageable divisions of the Peninsula. They were still, for the
most part, volunteers, for conscripts in the Army of Northern
Virginia were not numerous, but they were volunteers of a very
different type from those who had fought at Kernstown or at Gaines'
Mill. Despite their protracted absence from their homes, the wealthy
and well-born privates still shouldered the musket. Though many had
been promoted to commissions, the majority were content to set an
example of self-sacrifice and sterling patriotism, and the regiments
were thus still leavened with a large admixture of educated and
intelligent men. It is a significant fact that during those months of
1863 which were spent in winter quarters Latin, Greek, mathematical,
and even Hebrew classes were instituted by the soldiers. But all
trace of social distinction had long since vanished. Between the rich
planter and the small farmer or mechanic there was no difference
either in aspect or habiliments. Tanned by the hot Virginia sun,
thin-visaged and bright-eyed, gaunt of frame and spare of flesh, they
were neither more nor less than the rank and file of the Confederate
army; the product of discipline and hard service, moulded after the
same pattern, with the same hopes and fears, the same needs, the same
sympathies. They looked at life from a common standpoint, and that
standpoint was not always elevated. Human nature claimed its rights.
When his hunger was satisfied and, to use his own expression, he was
full of hog and hominy, the Confederate soldier found time to discuss
the operations in which he was engaged. Pipe in mouth, he could pass
in review the strategy and tactics of both armies, the capacity of
his generals, and the bearing of his enemies, and on each one of
these questions, for he was the shrewdest of o