rates to defend so long a
line of seacoast. The South had lost rather than gained ground in
consequence of their victory at Bull Run. For a time they had been
unduly elated, and were altogether disposed to underrate their enemies
and to believe that the struggle was as good as over. Thus, then, they
made no effort at all corresponding to the North; but as time went on,
and they saw the vastness of the preparations made for their conquest,
the people of the Southern States again bestirred themselves.

Owing to the North having the command of the sea, and shutting up all
the principal ports, they had to rely upon themselves for everything,
while the North could draw arms and ammunition and all the requisites of
war from the markets of Europe. Foundries were accordingly established
for the manufacture of artillery, and factories for muskets, ammunition,
and percussion caps. The South had, in fact, to manufacture everything
down to the cloth for her soldiers' uniforms and the leather for their
shoes; and, as in the past she had relied wholly upon the North for such
goods, it was for a time impossible to supply the troops with even the
most necessary articles.

The women throughout the States were set to work spinning and weaving
rough cloth and making uniforms from it. Leather, however, cannot be
produced all at once, and indeed, with all their efforts, the
Confederate authorities were never, throughout the war, able to provide
a sufficient supply of boots for the troops, and many a battle was won
by soldiers who fought almost barefooted, and who reshod themselves for
the most part by stripping the boots from their dead foes. Many other
articles could not be produced in the Southern States, and the
Confederates suffered much from the want of proper medicines and
surgical appliances.

For these and many other necessaries they had to depend solely upon the
ships which succeeded in making their way through the enemy's cruisers
and running the blockade of the ports. Wine, tea, coffee, and other
imported articles soon became luxuries beyond the means of all, even the
very wealthy. All sorts of substitutes were used; grain, roasted and
ground, being chiefly used as a substitute for coffee. Hitherto the
South had been principally occupied in raising cotton and tobacco,
depending chiefly upon the North for food; and it was necessary now to
abandon the cultivation of products for which they had no sale, and to
devote the land to