my, they thought, was a
disheartened, disorganised mob; Bragg's army in a still worse condition,
fleeing before Rosecrans, who would carry everything before him. They
felt confident that the fall of the Mississippian fortresses would
prevent communication from one bank to the other, and that the great
river would soon be open to peaceful commerce.

All these illusions have since been dispelled, but they probably still
cling to the idea of the great exhaustion of the Southern _personnel_.

But this difficulty of recruiting the Southern armies is not so great as
is generally supposed. As I have already stated, no Confederate soldier
is given his discharge from the army, however badly he may be wounded;
but he is employed at such labour in the public service as he may be
capable of performing, and his place in the ranks is taken by a sound
man hitherto exempted. The slightly wounded are cured as quickly as
possible, and are sent back at once to their regiments. _The women take
care of this._ The number actually killed, or who die of their wounds,
are the only total losses to the State, and these form but a small
proportion of the enormous butcher's bills, which seem at first so very
appalling.

I myself remember, with General Polk's corps, a fine-looking man who
had had both his hands blown off at the wrists by unskilful
artillery-practice in one of the early battles. A currycomb and brush
were fitted into his stumps, and he was engaged in grooming
artillery-horses with considerable skill. This man was called an
hostler; and, as the war drags on, the number of these handless hostlers
will increase. By degrees the clerks at the offices, the orderlies, the
railway and post-office officials, and the stage-drivers, will be
composed of maimed and mutilated soldiers. The number of exempted
persons all over the South is still very large, and they can easily be
exchanged for worn veterans. Besides this fund to draw upon, a
calculation is made of the number of boys who arrive each year at the
fighting age. These are all "panting for the rifle," but have been
latterly wisely forbidden the ranks until they are fit to undergo the
hardships of a military life. By these means, it is the opinion of the
Confederates that they can keep their armies recruited up to their
present strength for several years; and, if the worst comes to the
worst, they can always fall back upon their negroes as a last resort;
but I do not think they contempl