Friday, August 26, 2011

Base Material versus High Morality

This entry comes from the DeBow's Review (date not indicated),  as found in The Rebellion Record:  A Diary of American Events, Volume II, 1862 edited by Frank Moore.

Southern Criticism.—The army of the North is as remarkable for its base material as ours for its high morality. Respectable men do not volunteer to go a-rogueing, [shade of Webster!] and the attack on the South is avowedly a rogue's expedition. The Northern troops are, with very few exceptions, paupers, thieves, ignorant foreigners, murderers, bullies, and criminals of every description. They are not half so respectable or well-informed as our negroes, and it adds much to the indignation and exasperation of our troops that they have to meet these nomadic scoundrels.
A group of unidentified Union soldiers, From Library of Congress Collection

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