It
must be admitted, I think, that General McClellan did all that a man
could do in the way of training this huge mass. But when the day came
for it to move forward, it was still unfit for an offensive campaign
against a regular army. To the practised eye of an able and
experienced soldier who accompanied McClellan, the Federal host was
an army only in name. He likened it to a giant lying prone upon the
earth, in appearance a Hercules, but wanting the bone, the muscle,
and the nervous organisation necessary to set the great frame in
motion. Even when the army was landed in the Peninsula, although the
process of training and organisation had been going on for over six
months, it was still a most unwieldy force. Fortunately for the
Union, the Confederate army, except as regards the superior leaders
and the cavalry, was hardly more efficient.
The United States, fully realising their need of a larger regular
army, are now on the point of increasing their existing force to
treble its present strength. Their troops, like our own, are raised
by voluntary enlistment for a short period of service with the
colours. England has always very great difficulty in filling the
ranks even with undeveloped youths.
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