racy. They
had little enthusiasm, but were the greatest "stickers" and "stayers"
on a battle line of any troops from the South. They fought equally as
well in thicket or tangled morass as behind entrenchments. To use an
army expression, "The North Carolinians were there to stay." It was
a jocular remark, common during the war, that the reason the North
Carolina troops were so hard to drive from a position was "they had so
much tar on their heels that they could not run." They were obstinate,
tenacious, and brave.

South Carolinians took on in a great measure the inspirations of some
of their French Huguenot ancestors and the indomitable courage of
their Scotch and German forefathers of the Revolution. They were
impulsive, impetuous, and recklessly brave in battle, and were the men
to storm breastworks and rush to the cannon's mouth at the head of a
"forlorn hope." They possibly might not stay as long in a stubbornly
contested battle as some from other States, but would often accomplish
as much in a few minutes by the mad fury of their assault as some
others would accomplish in as many hours. They were the Ironsides
of the South, and each individual felt that he had a holy mission to
fulfill. There were no obstacles they could not surmount, no position
they would not assail. Enthusiasm and self-confidence were the fort
of South Carolinians, and it was for them to raise the Rebel yell and
keep it up while the storm of battle raged fierce and furious. They
were the first to raise the banner of revolt, and right royally did
they sustain it as long as it floated over the Southland.

What is said of the South Carolinians can be truthfully said of
Georgians. People of the same blood, and kindred in all that makes
them one, they could be with propriety one and the same people. The
Georgians would charge a breastwork or storm a battery with the
same light-heartedness as they went to their husking bees or
corn-shucking, all in a frolick. To illustrate their manner of
fighting, I will quote from a Northern journal, published just after
the seven days' battles around Richmond, a conversation between Major
D., of the ---- New York, and a civilian of the North. The Major was
boasting in a noisy manner of the courage, daring, and superiority
of the Northern soldiers over those of the South. "Well, why was it,"
asked the civilian, "if you were so superior in every essential to
the Rebels, that you got such an everlasting licking arou