Now that it was on the verge of being lost, the United States knew suddenly what this New England meant to it. It realized all at once what vast productiveness had enriched the entire Continent with its manifold variety. So accustomed through long generations to the endless supply, even the merchants of America had not realized how much they depended on Connecticut and Massachusetts factories for a thousand articles of daily utility.
From every point in the Union came orders. Had such a torrent arrived in a time of peace, Connecticut might have built one unbroken factory reaching from the Berkshire Hills to Stonington, to meet the demand.
“We Will Play Our Hand Out!”
And all that lay between this treasure-house of the United States and capture was a bluff—a last, desperate American bluff.
The American General knew that his adversary must know that it was a bluff; but bluffing was an American game.
“We will play our hand out,” he said to his staff. “No doubt he knows that he could drive us back now, without waiting for his whole army to land, and all that ungodly mess of artillery that he’s brought with him. But he wants to play safe. He wants to clean the whole thing up in one operation. He wants to lick us, true; but he wants still more to accomplish his bigger job—the possession of the seaboard. We’ll sit tight—and bluff him into going slow.”
The army sat tight. It sat tight while New England worked, and Chambers of Commerce and Committees of Safety argued and resolved and argued and could agree on nothing except that the whole thing was a hopeless mess. It sat tight while a hundred millions stared at the mess, and hooted their Congressmen and politicians who wandered around feebly to explain that it was the fault of somebody else.
In Ohio and Indiana the mess was typified. Here in great camps were gathered the organized militia of the western States to be organized, with 300,000 entirely raw volunteers who had everything to learn. These green men were the pick of the country—physically perfect, intelligent, quick to understand. But there was nobody to teach them.
For years the United States had been warned that if the crisis ever should occur, there would not be any officers available for the work of organizing and training recruits. The warning had been whistled down the wind. Congresses that could find ample time to debate about mileage and constructive recesses and pork barrels had never found a time when they could debate this.