scanty supply of arms and ammunition. Under Buchanan's presidency an incapable, if not a treacherous, Secretary of War, who later on joined the Southern forces, had allowed large numbers of arms to be removed from arsenals in the North to arsenals in the Southern States, where they were seized by the Secessionists. For the supply of muskets the Government depended chiefly on the Springfield Armoury, and upon that at Harper's Ferry. The capacity of the pri vate manufacturers was only a few thousand muskets a year, and after the destruction of the arsenal and armoury at Harper's Ferry on April 19, 1861, which contained 15,000 muskets, and which otherwise might have fallen into the hands of the Confederates, the resources of the Government were seriously diminished. The want of arms limited the call of the President on April 15 to 75,000 men, and many regiments were detained for a long time in their camps in the different States until muskets could be imported from Europe. Orders for weapons were hastily sent abroad, and many inferior arms were imported at high prices. The Springfield Armoury, the capacity of which was only about 25,000 muskets per year, was rapidly enlarged, and its production, assisted by outside machine shops, was brought up to about 8000 muskets per month at the end of 1861, and to about 15,000 per month shortly afterwards. The United States had to pay for their neglect of military preparations in the past. Everything had laboriously to be created. Meanwhile confusion was general. The Army which had been collected was merely a mob of ill-armed men. During 1861 the State of Indiana, for instance, had raised and sent into the field in round numbers 60,000 men, of whom 53,500 were infantry. The statement shown in the table on page 370, taken from 'Appleton's Annual Cyclopædia,' shows what arms they received during the year.

In their need, anything that had a barrel was used to arm their troops. The Southern States even fell back upon shot-guns and ancient fowling-pieces. Gradually order was evolved out of chaos. The inborn energy and talent for

organisation of the race asserted themselves. The North was far superior to the South in population, wealth, machinery, and appliances of every kind. In the course of time a large, well-organised, and well-equipped army arose.

At the beginning of 1862 the Southern States were threatened with invasion by large armies. A great forward movement of the Northern forces was ordered to begin on February 22, and rapid progress was being made. Forts Henry and Donelson were rapidly captured from the rebels, Bowling Green and Columbus had to be evacuated, and

Nashville surrendered. The entire line of defence formed by the Southern States towards the west was swept away, and a march by the Northern troops into the heart of the South-western States seemed imminent. Consternation seized upon the Southern people. The Southern Army of 1861 was composed chiefly of volunteers who had enlisted for twelve months. The voluntary system had yielded all it could yield. It became clear that the Southern States could not successfully be defended by volunteers against the North, that national and compulsory service was needed. The Southern Government was aroused to action, and without hesitation President Jefferson Davis sent a message to the Confederate Congress, in which he laid down that it was the duty of all citizens to defend the State, and in which he demanded the introduction of conscription for all men

between eighteen and thirty-five years. This most important document was worded as follows:

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the
Confederate States

The operation of the various laws now in force for raising armies has exhibited the necessity for reform. The frequent changes and amendments which have been made have rendered the system so complicated as to make it often quite difficult to determine what the law really is, and to what extent prior amendments are modified by more recent legislation.

There is also embarrassment from conflict between State and Confederate legislation. I am happy to assure you of the entire harmony of purpose and cordiality of feeling which has continued to exist between myself and the executives of the several States; and it is to this cause that our success in keeping adequate forces in the field is to be attributed.

These reasons would suffice for inviting your earnest attention to the necessity of some simple and general system for exercising the power of raising armies which is vested in Congress by the Constitution.

But there is another and more important consideration. The vast preparations made by the enemy for a combined assault at numerous points on our frontier and seaboard have produced results that might have been expected. They have animated the people with a spirit of resistance so general, so resolute, and so self-sacrificing that it requires rather to be regulated than to be stimulated. The right of the State to demand and the duty of each citizen to render military service need only to be stated to be admitted. It is not, however, a wise or judicious policy to place in active service that portion of the force of a people which experience has shown to be necessary as a reserve. Youths under the age of eighteen years require further instruction; men of matured experience are needed for maintaining order and good government at home, and in supervising preparations for rendering efficient the armies in the field. These two

classes constitute the proper reserve for home defence, ready to be called out in case of any emergency, and to be kept in the field only while the emergency exists.

But in order to maintain this reserve intact it is necessary that in a great war like that in which we are now engaged all persons of intermediate ages not legally exempt for good cause should pay their debt of military service to the country, that the burdens should not fall exclusively on the ardent and patriotic. I therefore recommend the passage of a law declaring that all persons residing within the Confederate States between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five years, and rightfully subject to military duty, shall be held to be in the military service of the Confederate States, and that some plain and simple method be adopted for their prompt enrolment and organisation, repealing all of the legislation heretofore enacted which would conflict with the system proposed.

It will be noticed that President Jefferson Davis demanded not only conscription, but practically the total surrender of State rights. He wished the confederation of Southern States to fight like a single State, recognising that concentration increases strength. A Conscription Act was rapidly passed on April 16, 1862.

As conscription for all men from eighteen to thirty-five years did not suffice to fill the depleted ranks of the Southern Army, it was made more rigorous. An order by BrigadierGeneral John H. Winder dated August 1, 1862, stated:

The obtaining of substitutes through the medium of agents is strictly forbidden. When such agents are employed, the principal, the substitute, and the agent will be impressed into the military service, and the money paid for the substitute, and as a reward to the agent, will be confiscated to the Government. The offender will also be subjected to such other imprisonment as may be imposed by a court martial.

As desertion from the ranks had weakened the Southern Army, the Press appealed to the citizens of the South to

assist in the apprehension of deserters and stragglers. All men and women in the country were exhorted to pursue, shame and drive back to the ranks those who have deserted their colours and their comrades and turned their backs upon their country's service.' Still further exertions were required to prevent the Northern troops invading the Southern States in force. Hence, in September 1862, the Confederate Congress passed another Act of Conscription which called out for military service all men between the ages of thirty-five and forty-five. The most important part of this Act was worded as follows:

An Act to amend an Act entitled 'An Act to provide further for the Public Defence,' approved April 16, 1862.

The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact That the President be and he is hereby authorised to call out and place in the military service of the Confederate States for three years, unless the war shall have been sooner ended, all white men who are residents of the Confederate States between the ages of thirty-five and forty-five years at the time the call or calls may be made, and who are not at such time or times legally exempted from military service; or such part or parts thereof as, in his judgment, may be necessary to the public defence, such call or calls to be made under the provisions and according to the terms of the Act to which this is an amendment; and such authority shall exist in the President during the present war as to all persons who now are or may hereafter become eighteen years of age; and when once enrolled all persons between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years shall serve their full time.

Years of fighting reduced the ranks of the Southern armies. They could hold their own against the overwhelming numbers of the North only by extending the age limit of compulsory military service still further, by making conscription still more rigorous. In February 1864 a general military Act was passed which enrolled all