"
"It does not always pay--even in war--to be brutal. I am glad to see
he has found out his mistake so soon," another officer said.
"McClellan waged war like a gentleman; and if blackguards are to
be allowed to carry fire and sword through the land they will soon
find it is a game that two can play at, and matters will become
horribly embittered."
"We shall never do that," Vincent said. "Our generals are all
gentlemen, and Lee and Jackson and many others are true
Christians as well as true soldiers, and I am sure they will never
countenance that on our side whatever the Northerners may do.
We are ready to fight the hordes of Yankees and Germans and
Irishmen as often as they advance against us, but I am sure that
none of us would fire a homestead or ill-treat defenseless men and
women. It is a scandal that such brutalities are committed by the
ruffians who call themselves Southerners. The guerrillas in
Missouri and Tennessee are equally bad whether on our side or the
other, and if I were the president I would send down a couple of
regiments, and hunt down the fellows who bring dishonor on our
cause. If the South cannot free herself without the aid of ruffians
of this kind she had better lay down her arms at once.
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