Excerpt from The American Volunteer
The most astonishing thing connected with the history of the War of 1861 to 1865 was the heroism displayed by the American Volunteer. We have reason to expect deeds of valor from the standing armies of the world, from men whose sole duty is to drill and spend their whole lives in preparation to fight; men trained to arms and supposed to be ever ready to die in defense of their country, but the records of all the bravery and self sacrifice of all nations of the earth pale and become as nothing when compared with the heroism of the volunteer armies of 1861 to 1865. Not in the history of the world is there a record of any regiment or battery losing 50 per cent. in killed and wounded in a single battle until our War of the Rebellion, and we must remember this fact when recalling the gallantry of our own people. The armies of England did great deeds during the centuries past; the veterans of Napoleon left the memory of their splendid fighting on many gory fields, but the volunteers of America, both in individual heroism and the gallantry displayed by them as an organization, have excelled every army that ever merchant on earth. The farmer who, in 1861, left his plow in the furrow; the merchant who closed his store; the clerk who threw down the pen; the workman who left the mill, and the schoolboy his books, forming regiments and batteries to go to the front, proved better, nobler and more heroic soldiers than any others known in history.
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