The Southern boys were always ready for fight;
Although the Yankees did their methods despise,
They pounced upon them and took them by surprise.
Unreliable Soldiers.—On the warpath the artful skulker did clever maneuvering worthy of a better cause to sustain his position that for plausible reasons he ought to be an immune and not required to join at the critical time when the battle was on.
Soldiers destitute of principle, morals or brain
Upon the fair name of an army cast a stain.
An army made up of figureheads, thugs and bums,
To an intelligent force is obliged to succumb,
Fortunately the Southern army did not have many of this class, and the few placed as they were among soldiers disposed to do their duty, were obliged to take their places in line.
Music in Battle.—Before the beginning of hostilities the average citizens were under the impression that soldiers marched into battle to the tune of martial music and to cheer them on the drums would beat and the bands play, but soldiers’ first experience convinced them that a very different kind of music prevailed. It was the terrific sound of bursting shells, the hateful, hissing, singing of minnie balls, mingled with commands of officers occasionally heard above the din, and the screams and groans of wounded and dying soldiers crying for help and calling for water to quench their burning thirst.