architecture
in wood and iron. There went into the field, for various terms of
enlistment, about two million men, and in March last the men in the
army exceeded a million: that is to say, nine of every twenty
able-bodied men in the free Territories and States took some part in
the war; and at one time every fifth of their able-bodied men was in
service. In one single month one hundred and sixty-five thousand men
were recruited into service. Once, within four weeks, Ohio organized
and placed in the field forty-two regiments of infantry--nearly
thirty-six thousand men; and Ohio was like other States in the east and
in the west. The well-mounted cavalry numbered eighty-four thousand; of
horses and mules there were bought, from first to last, two-thirds of a
million. In the movements of troops science came in aid of patriotism,
so that, to choose a single instance out of many, an army twenty-three
thousand strong, with its artillery, trains, baggage, and animals, were
moved by rail from the Potomac to the Tennessee, twelve hundred miles,
in seven days. On the long marches, wonders of military construction
bridged the rivers, and wherever an army halted, ample supplies awaited
them at their ever-changing base. The vile thought that life is the
greatest of blessings did not rise up. In six hundred and twenty-five
battles and severe skirmishes blood flowed like water. It streamed over
the grassy plains; it stained the rocks; the undergrowth of the forests
was red with it; and the armies marched on with majestic courage from
one conflict to another, knowing that they were fighting for God and
liberty. The organization of the medical department met its infinitely
multiplied duties with exactness and despatch. At the news of a battle;
the best surgeons of our cities hastened to the field, to offer the
untiring aid of the greatest experience and skill. The gentlest and
most refined of women left homes of luxury and ease to build hospital
tents near the armies, and serve as nurses to the sick and dying.
Beside the large supply of religious teachers by the public, the
congregations spared to their brothers in the field the ablest
ministers. The Christian Commission, which expended more than six and a
quarter millions, sent nearly five thousand clergymen, chosen out of
the best, to keep unsoiled the religious character of the men, and made
gifts of clothes and food and medicine. The organization of private
charity assumed unheard-of d