South. In the South there was undue elation, followed by the
absurd belief that one Southerner could beat two Northerners any
day and that the North would now back down en masse, as its army
had from the Henry Hill. A dangerous slackening of military
preparation was the unavoidable result. In the North, on the
other hand, a good many people began to see the difference
between armed mobs and armies; and the thorough Unionists, led by
the wise and steadfast Lincoln, braced themselves for real war.



CHAPTER II. THE COMBATANTS

No map can show the exact dividing line between the actual
combatants of North and South. Eleven States seceded: Virginia,
the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee,
Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas. But the mountain folk of western
Virginia and eastern Tennessee were strong Unionists; and West
Virginia became a State while the war was being fought. On the
other hand, the four border States, though officially Federal
under stress of circumstances, were divided against themselves.
In Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, and Kansas, many citizens took
the Southern side. Maryland would have gone with the South if it
had not been for the presence of overwhelming Northern sea-power
and the absence of any good land frontier of her own. Kentucky
remained neutral for several months. Missouri was saved for the
Union by those two resourceful and determined men, Lyon and
Blair. Kansas, though preponderantly Unionist, had many
Confederates along its southern boundary. On the whole the Union
gained greatly throughout the borderlands as the war went on; and