“The Bayonet The True Weapon” - Confederate Newspaper in 1862

An article in the Richmond Daily Dispatch Newspaper, January 4th 1862

The Bayonet The True Weapon

A gentleman who participated in the glorious battle of Greenbrier river, informs us that he himself heard the Yankee General repeatedly call upon regiment after regiment of his valiant heroes to "charge the d—d rebels," and that they declined to budge an inch. He singled out particular regiments, invoking them to charge, but they respectfully declined and he then called upon select companies in those regiments, but none of them had a stomach for the job. He called upon the officers, with a volley of oaths, to lead their men to "the imminent deadly breach," but the officers replied that unless they carried the men on their shoulders, there was no way of getting them there. At last, he offered to pay them if they would "charge the d—d rebels," but even that all powerful influence failed to bring them to the scratch. We understand that at Drainsville, where they numbered fifteen thousand to our sixteen hundred, and on several other occasions, they manifested a similar disinclination to come to close quarters. At the battle of Alleghany, outnumbering us five to one, they took to their heels incontinently at every charge of the bayonet. These facts should impress upon our men, the value of the cold steel in Southern hands, and impress upon them the importance of bringing the enemy to close quarters whenever it is practicable.