Instead of growling and deserting, they laughed at their own bare feet, ragged clothes, and pinched faces; and weak, hungry, cold, wet and dirty, with no hope of reward or rest, they marched cheerfully to meet the warmly clad and well-fed hosts of the enemy."* (* Soldier Life in the Army of Northern Virginia.) Indomitable indeed were the hearts that beat beneath the grey jackets, and a spirit rising superior to all misfortune,

That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine,

was a marked characteristic of the Confederate soldier.  Nor was it only in camp or on the march that the temper of the troops betrayed itself in reckless gaiety.* (* General Longstreet relates an amusing story:  “One of the soldiers, during the investment of Suffolk (April 1863), carefully constructed and equipped a full-sized man, dressed in a new suit of improved “butternut” clothing; and christening him Julius Caesar took him to a signal platform which overlooked the works, adjusted him to a graceful position, and made him secure to the framework by strong cords.  A little after sunrise “Julius Caesar” was discovered by some of the Federal battery officers, who prepared for the target so inviting to skilful practice.  The new soldier sat under the hot fire with irritating indifference until the Confederates, unable to restrain their hilarity, exposed the joke by calling for “Three cheers for Julius Caesar!” The other side quickly recognised the situation, and good-naturedly added to ours their cheers for the old hero.”  From Manassas to Apomattox.) The stress of battle might thin their ranks, but it was powerless to check their laughter.  The dry humour of the American found a fine field in the incidents of a fierce engagement.  Nothing escaped without remark:  the excitement of a general, the accelerated movements of the non-combatants, the vagaries of the army mule, the bad practice of the artillery—­all afforded entertainment.  And when the fight became hotter and the Federals pressed resolutely to the attack, the flow of badinage took a grim and peculiar turn.  It has already been related that the Confederate armies depended, to a large degree, for their clothing and equipments on what they captured.  So abundant was this source of supply, that the soldier had come to look upon his enemy as a movable magazine of creature comforts; and if he marched cheerfully to battle, it was not so much because he loved fighting, but that he hoped to renew his wardrobe.  A victory was much, but the spoils of victory were more.  No sooner, then, did the Federals arrive within close range, than the wild yells of the Southern infantry became mingled with fierce laughter and derisive shouts.  “Take off them boots, Yank!” “Come out of them clothes; we’re gwine to have them!” “Come on, blue-bellies, we want them blankets!” “Bring them rations along!  You’ve got to leave them!”—­such were the cries, like the howls of half-famished wolves, that were heard along Jackson’s lines at Fredericksburg.*