t upon the
feeding and general well-being of the troops. Badly supplied troops
will invariably be low in moral, and an army ravaged by disease ceases
to be a fighting force. The feeding and health of the fighting forces
are dependent upon the rearward services, and so it may be argued that
with the rearward services rests victory or defeat" (Marshal Haig).

HUMAN NATURE.--Human nature is affected by discipline, fear, hunger,
confidence in or distrust of leaders, and by a variety of other
influences, and human {14} nature is more important than armament and
numbers. "No great deeds have ever been performed by an army in which
the qualities of courage and steadfast endurance are wanting" (General
Sir E. B. Hamley), and the steadfast endurance of a nation and of its
leaders is also a factor of supreme importance. Time occupied in
preparation for battle, or in manoeuvring for the "weather gauge," is
seldom wasted; but it involves the risk of a weak-kneed executive
yielding to popular clamour. Against the strategical and tactical
genius of Hannibal, Quintus Fabius Maximus invoked the aid of time to
afford him opportunities to strike. His "Fabian Tactics" have become
proverbial, and earned for him at the time the opprobrious epithet
"Cunctator," which the epigram[3] of Ennius has immortalised in his
honour. Popular clamour led to a division of authority with Varro, and
to the disaster of _Cannae_ (B.C. 216). General G. B. McClellan was
recalled from the Army of the Potomac on account of his failure to
convert the drawn battle of the _Antietam_ (Sept. 17, 1862) into a
victory, and the army was handed over to General Burnside, who suffered
defeat at _Fredericksburg_ (Dec. 13, 1862) with terrible slaughter.
"But the stout heart of the American nation quickly rallied, and
inspired by the loyal determination of Abraham Lincoln the United
States turned once more to their apparently hopeless task" (Colonel G.
F. R. Henderson). McClellan's forte was organisation, and although at
first slow in the field, he had assembled and trained a magnificent
fighting force, with which he was "feeling his way to victory." He
suffered defeat indeed at _Gaines's Mill_ (June 27, 1862), the first
act in the drama of the _Seven Days' Battle around Richmond_. Day
after day he fell back through swamp and forest, battling with Lee's
victorious troops. But there was no further disaster. Under the most
adverse and dispiriting circumstances the