e found in the most enthusiastic communities of the
North. Western Virginia revolted in 1861, and in 1863 she was received
into the Union as a loyal State, in spite of the absence of all
constitutional authority or precedent. Eastern Tennessee might have
pursued the same course if it had been possible for President Lincoln to
lend military assistance at the proper moment. Except in the valley and
southwestern counties of Virginia, most of the grain and
cattle-producing area of the South was indifferent to the cause of the
Confederacy. This was a serious handicap, for troops must be stationed
in many localities to maintain order, and the resistance to the foraging
agents of the Southern armies frequently became serious. From the summer
of 1863 to the end of the struggle the home guards of the various
disaffected districts required many men who might otherwise have been
with Lee or Joseph E. Johnston.

But the better parts of the South, the tobacco and cotton belts, with
their annual output of three hundred millions' worth of exportable
commodities, their high-strung, well-bred gentry accustomed to outdoor
life and horseback riding and devoted to the idea of local autonomy in
government, were behind the Confederate movement. The people had been
better trained in their local militia than their Northern brethren,
their greatest families had long been accustomed to send cadets to West
Point, and in several States there were excellent military schools where
the best of training was given to young men who looked forward with a
vague expectation to careers in the army. If we add to these
considerations the fact that the rural aristocracy, whether secessionist
or unionist in politics in 1860, regarded the movements of the North in
the spring of 1861 as ruthless attacks upon their ideals and their
homes, we shall understand how the Confederates were able to organize a
powerful and efficient army so early in the struggle.

The Confederate seat of Government was removed in May, 1861, from
Montgomery to Richmond. The old Virginia capital, always the center of
strong unionist feelings, became the scene of cabinet meetings, of
sessions of Congress, and military conferences. The easy-going tobacco
gentry who had grown up with the little city on the James welcomed the
invasion of generals, politicians, and army contractors, and saw with
pleasure the population swell from some twenty-five thousand to a
hundred thousand souls. The "White