He finds that the
inhabitants who before, whatever their private sentiments were,
maintained a sort of neutrality, are now hostile, that they drive off
their cattle into the woods, and even set fire to their stacks, to
prevent anything from being carried off by the Yanks; and his troops
find the roads broken up and bridges destroyed and all sorts of
difficulties thrown in their way."

"It does not always pay--even in war--to be brutal. I am glad to see he
has found out his mistake so soon," another officer said. "McClellan
waged war like a gentleman; and if blackguards are to be allowed to
carry fire and sword through the land they will soon find it is a game
that two can play at, and matters will become horribly embittered."

"We shall never do that," Vincent said. "Our generals are all gentlemen,
and Lee and Jackson and many others are true Christians as well as true
soldiers, and I am sure they will never countenance that on our side,
whatever the Northerners may do. We are ready to fight the hordes of
Yankees and their hired soldiers as often as they advance against us,
but I am sure that none of us would fire a homestead or ill-treat
defenseless men and women. It is a scandal that such brutalities are
committed by the ruffians who call themselves Southerners. The
guerrillas in Missouri and Tennessee are equally bad, whether on our
side or the other, and if I were the President I would send down a
couple of regiments, and hunt down the fellows who bring dishonor on our
cause. If the South cannot free herself without the aid of ruffians of
this kind, she had better lay down her arms at once."

"Bravo, Wingfield! Spoken like a knight of chivalry!" one of the others
laughed. "But many of these bands have done good, nevertheless. They
have kept the enemy busy there, and occupied the attention of a very
large force who might otherwise have been in the woods yonder with Pope.
I agree with you, it would be better if the whole thing were fought out
with large armies, but there is a good deal to be said for these bands
you are so severe upon. They are composed of men who have been made
desperate by seeing their farms harried and their buildings burned by
the enemy. They have been denounced as traitors by their neighbors on
the other side, and if they retaliate I don't know that they are to be
altogether blamed. I know that if my place at home were burned down, and
my people insulted and ill-treated, I should be inclined to