in these pages a brief synopsis of the characteristics of the
troops from different States, and while this is the view of the author
alone, still I feel assured that the great mass of the old soldiers
will admit its correctness. To the question, "Which were the best
troops from the South?" there would be as many answers and as much
differences of opinions as there were States in the Confederacy, or
organizations in the field, as each soldier was conscientious in his
belief that those from his own State were the best in the army,
his brigade the best in the division, his regiment the best in the
brigade, and his own company the best in the regiment. This is a
pardonable pride of the soldier, and is as it should be to make an
army great. Where all, individually and collectively, were as good
or better than any who ever before faced an enemy upon a battlefield,
there really are no "best."

But soldiers from different States, all of the same nationality and
of the same lineage, from habits, temperaments, and environments, had
different characteristics upon the field of battle. From an impartial
standpoint, I give my opinion thus:

The Virginians were the cavaliers of the South, high-toned, high-bred,
each individual soldier inspired by that lofty idea of loyalty of the
cavalier. They were the ideal soldiers in an open field and a fair
fight. They were the men to sweep a battle line that fronts them from
the field by their chivalrous and steady courage. Virginia, the mother
of Presidents, of great men, and noble women, the soldier of that
State felt in honor bound to sustain the name and glory of their
commonwealth. As a matter of fact, the Virginians, as a rule, with
exceptions enough to establish the rule, being one of the oldest of
the sister States, her wealth, her many old and great institutions
of learning, were better educated than the mass of soldiers from
the other States. They were soldiers from pride and patriotism, and
courageous from "general principles." In an open, fair field, and a
square and even fight, no enemy could stand before their determined
advance and steady fire. They were not the impulsive, reckless,
head-strong soldiers in a desperate charge as were those from some
other Southern States, but cool, collected, steady, and determined
under fire. They were of the same mettle and mould as their kinsmen
who stood with Wellington at Waterloo.

The North Carolinians were the "Old Guard" of the Confede