Never underrate an enemy.
If the North, instead of having a vast numerical preponderance and an immense superiority of all kinds of resources, were only our equals in all these advantages, we should even then be shamefully derelict to our duties and responsibilities if we imperiled such momentous trusts as those committed to our hands by the neglect of any of those military precautions which are essential to the success of our arms and the safety of our country. But when we have everything to contend against — when we have a foe who can bring three soldiers into the field to our one, and bring against us at every point the heaviest odds of material and munitions of war — it is obvious that nothing can save us from destruction but the most unlimbering vigilance and the sternest and most all-pervading discipline. We must make up in these qualities what we lack in numbers, and cease to place an absurd dependence upon the superiority of our individual courage; for, in war, more depends upon discipline than upon courage, and if we allow our enemy to surpass us not only in numbers, but in watchfulness and energy, we shall insure our defeat and annihilation. Even in fighting qualities we ought to know by this time that discipline can convert the Northern masses into first rate fighting machines, and that the only way to counteract its effects is by equal or superior discipline on our side. We are afraid that there is too much disposition to esteem lightly the prowess and enterprise of the enemy, to go to sleep in the neighborhood of a wily and energetic foe, and to abstain from enforcing the penalties of breaches of discipline upon all, high and low, who neglect their duty.--The time has come when we must do this thing, or be overrun by the enemy. The time has come when the armies of the South must be armies of regulars, and every officer and every man be held to as strict account for the performance of his duties as the officers and men of the regular armies of Europe. The magnificent courage of the Southern troops can only be put to valuable account by making their discipline equal to their courage, and by husbanding our resources in men and arms with the most patient forethought and the most perfect system.Nor ought we to underrate the military skill any more than the courage of the Yankee army. The majority of their Generals may not be equal to the occasion, but some of them have shown great activity and sagacity. Rosecrans was one of their best Generals, Grant is unquestionably an able leader, and Meade has exhibited decided enterprise and boldness. One of these leaders has already been defeated, and the others may be; but to make this certain we must rely not upon their imagined incapacity, but, under the blessing of Heaven, upon our own watchfulness, system, forethought, and energy. We must prepare to fight the enemy as though he were led by Napoleon or Cœsar. Our men have the courage to fight anybody and everybody, but courage is not the quality we need. We must be vigilant, we must be cautious, and we must never be surprised, or our brightest laurels will be dimmed, and the safety of our country endangered.
