The Fall of the Confederacy. 479 
of humility. The predictions of the keenest intellects have 
een signally refuted. Even those who from the beginning 
prophesied the success of the North were wrong in most 
of their surmises. When the first mutterings of the storm 
were heard it was said that the South might bluster, 
but would not really secede, yet a few weeks after the elec- 
tion of Mr. Lincoln the Confederacy was formed. After 
secession the idea of war was ridiculed, Europe smiled at 
the bloodless fall of Sumter, yet such a war ensued that 
Europe was startled at its horrible proportions. It was 
assumed that the Confederacy would do nothing on the sea, 
yet she crippled the mercantile marine of the North, and 
gained a victory in Hampton Koads that demonstrated the 
superiority of iron over wood, and changed the system of 
naval warfare throughout the world. It was said that the 
negroes would rise against their masters, but they set an 
example of fidelity and patient endurance to all peoples and 
races. It was said that the Union party in the South would 
declare itself, but until the war was over there was no mani- 
festation of unionism. The seaports and the border cities of 
the South were to fall in the first campaign, and the war was 
to be carried on in the interior of the country, but the out- 
posts were held until the last, and when they fell, the Confe- 
deracy ceased to exist. We were assured that if the armies 
of the Confederacy were defeated the fires of revolution 
would smoulder for years, and that it would require as great 
an army to hold the South as it did to conquer the Confe- 
deracy, but when Lee surrendered, all resistance ceased, and 
the North was able forthwith to disband her armies. When 
the armies were disbanded, there were to be hosts of men 
unfitted for civil employment roving over the country, but 
the disbanded soldiers of all ranks returned immediately 
to the pursuits of peace. The North was to stagger 
under a load of debt, and to grow fainthearted by 
the loss of life, but she piled up a stupendous debt with 
cheerfulness, and raised army after army with unrivalled 
alacrity. It was suggested that the Southerners were too 
enervated to make good soldiers, but they fought with a 
splendid and antique heroism. It was hinted that the 
Northerners were traders, who would shrink from the toils 
of war, but they showed themselves compeers of the 
soldiers of the South in bravery and endurance. It was 
said that there was a complete dearth of military talent in the 
North, but Grant and Sherman proved themselves worthy 
antagonists of such illustrious captains asStonewall Jackson 
