Excerpt from Report of the Secretary of War: Confederate States of America, War Department, Richmond, August 12th, 1862 There was, therefore, an interval of disorganization and weakness impending, and the enemy had already entered Virginia with an army, now known to have had more than double the numerical strength of our own and superior to it in everything but courage and a good cause. It was obvious that conscription alone could save us, and it could hardly be supposed that a Constitution adopted in the midst of war, inhibited the only possible mode of raising armies. Influenced by these and other considerations, Congress adopted the measure popularly known as the Conscript Act. Four months have not elapsed since its passage and the present condition of the army and of the country sufficiently prove its wisdom. Four months ago our armies were retiring weak and disorganized before the overwhelm ing force of the enemy, yielding to them the sea-coast, the mines, the manufacturing power, the grain fields, and even entire States of the Confederacy. Now we are advancing with increased numbers, improving organization, renewed courage and the prestige of victory, upon an enemy defeated, disheartened, and sheltering himself behind defensive works and under cover of his gun-boats. A military sys tem which has done so much in so short a time, should be cherished and perfected, and its defects speedily corrected. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.