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13 “There Are Some True Men Left” To Appomattox The conditions of the troops further deteriorated during the final months of the war and desertions continued unabated. Food supplies shriveled until they were almost nonexistent. “I get so hungry,” a South Carolina soldier wrote to his family,“that it makes me sick. I stand it much better than I thought I could, but I don’t know how long I will hold out at it. . . . Our men can not and will not stand it much longer.” Earlier in the war, packages from home, often filled with edible treats and clothing, had been a morale booster. By 1865 they rarely made it to the troops. Postal authorities reportedly pilfered those few boxes that ran the gauntlet through Union-occupied territory. Even the highest officers suffered want. When an Irish Member of Parliament visited Gen. Lee, he shared one of the two biscuits that comprised the Confederate commander’s entire supper.1 Lee continued to issue constant pleas for improved rations for his soldiers, but to no avail. The Commissary Department proved incapable of meeting even the most basic needs of the graycoats, and that led to other problems. Hungry men became more susceptible to disease and infection, and weakened, feeble men made poor warriors. Inadequate clothing also contributed to the men’s debilitated condition, and even Pollyanna would have had trouble being optimistic about the South’s chances for victory. Starvation, coupled with despair, had long since opened the floodgates of men leaving the army. In one night, two hundred men—the equivalent of two full companies—went over to the enemy. In just three days, from January 19 to January 22, fifty-six soldiers deserted from Hill’s Third Corps, including twenty-seven from the Florida brigade. During the same month,“the 10th Florida lost 29 men to desertion, or about ten percent of the unit’s aggregate present.”2 170 / Chapter 13 Despite the wretched conditions, most of the army suffered and persevered, waiting for a new spring campaign. Each soldier likely had his own reason for staying with the Army of Northern Virginia, but one reason seems to predominate . Many soldiers feared that taking French leave would bring dishonor to their families. Dorman related a conversation he had with Pvt. William A. Driver before a minié ball to the elbow ended Dorman’s military career. In a quiet moment Driver told Dorman, “We are actually suffering for something to eat. And look at my almost bare feet. We can get out of this.” Dorman recognized the validity of the argument, but replied: “Billie, we can not think of doing such a thing. If we are permitted to live to ever see this thing ended, how could we ever go back and face our people at home.” Other reasons probably included personal honor, love of country, hatred for the Yankees, and devotion to Robert E. Lee. The latter reason was a potent deterrent to desertion. Even the cynical D. L. Geer later wrote that Lee “was the only mortal man I ever thought I could ever pay homage to.”3 In perhaps the ultimate example of grasping at straws, on February 9, Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin proposed acceptance of blacks into the Confederate armed services. Gen. Lee sent a circular among his troops requesting input into the idea of establishing several CSCT divisions. Many of the troops put the cause of Southern independence before their defense of slavery. Others saw the measure as confirmation of “their belief that the Confederacy was no longer worth fighting and dying for.”4 Only one known document gives an indication of the Florida brigade’s reaction to Gen. Lee’s circular. Lt. A. J. Peeler, who had been exchanged after more than a year’s captivity at the Union prison at Johnson’s Island, reportedly penned a letter to Secretary of War John Breckinridge “recommending that black men be used as soldiers.” Considering all that the Floridians had sacrificed to the cause, perhaps Peeler spoke for a majority of the troops from the southernmost state. Small numbers of black soldiers eventually were sworn into Confederate service and began training, but they never saw field service with the Army of Northern Virginia. Ironically, Benjamin’s speech came only two days after one of Lee’s army’s last offensive victories.5 U. S. Grant had received incorrect intelligence in early February of 1865 that supplies for Petersburg and Richmond were being shipped...

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