the remaining Confederate hold on the border people was more than
counterbalanced by the Federal hold on those in the western parts
of old Virginia and the eastern parts of Tennessee. Among the
small seafaring population along the Southern coast there were
also some strongly Union men.

Counting out Northern Confederates and Southern Federals as
canceling each other, so far as effective fighting was concerned
a comparison made between the North and South along the line of
actual secession reveals the one real advantage the South enjoyed
all through--an overwhelming party in favor of the war. When once
the die was cast there was certainly not a tenth of the Southern
whites who did not belong to the war party; and the peace party
always had to hold its tongue. The Southerners formed simpler and
far more homogeneous communities of the old long-settled stock,
and were more inclined to act together when once their feelings
were profoundly stirred.

The Northern communities, on the other hand, being far more
complex and far less homogeneous, were plagued with peace parties
that grew like human weeds, clogging the springs of action
everywhere. There were immigrants new to the country and
therefore not inclined to take risks for a cause they had not
learned to make their own. There were also naturalized, and even
American-born, aliens, aliens in speech, race, thought, and every
way of life. Then there were the oppositionists of different
kinds, who would not support any war government, however like a
perfect coalition it might be. Among these were some Northerners
who did business with the South, especially the men who financed
the cotton and tobacco crops. Others, again, were those