Mechanical obedience, then, is perfectly compatible with the freest exercise of the intelligence, provided that the men are so trained that they know instinctively when to give the one and to use the other; and the Confederates, had their officers and non-commissioned officers been trained soldiers, might easily have acquired this highest form of discipline.  As it was, and as it always will be with improvised troops, the discipline of battle was to a great degree purely personal.  The men followed those officers whom they knew, and in whom they had confidence; but they did not always obey simply because the officer had the right to command; and they were not easily handled when the wisdom of an order or the necessity of a movement was not apparent.  The only way, it was said by an Englishman in the Confederacy, in which an officer could acquire influence over the Southern soldiers was by his personal conduct under fire.  “Every ounce of authority,” was his expression, “had to be purchased by a drop of my blood."* (* Three Months in the Southern States.  General Sir Arthur Fremantle, G.C.B.) Such being the case, it is manifest that Jackson’s methods of discipline were well adapted to the peculiar constitution of the army in which he served.  With the officers he was exceedingly strict.  He looked to them to set an example of unhesitating obedience and the precise performance of duty.  He demanded, too—­and in this respect his own conduct was a model—­that the rank and file should be treated with tact and consideration.  He remembered that his citizen soldiers were utterly unfamiliar with the forms and customs of military life, that what to the regular would be a mere matter of course, might seem a gross outrage to the man who had never acknowledged a superior.  In his selection of officers, therefore, for posts upon his staff, and in his recommendations for promotion, he considered personal characteristics rather than professional ability.  He preferred men who would win the confidence of others—­men not only strong, but possessing warm sympathies and broad minds—­to mere martinets, ruling by regulation, and treating the soldier as a machine.  But, at the same time, he was by no means disposed to condone misconduct in the volunteers.  Never was there a more striking contrast than between Jackson the general and Jackson off duty.  During his sojourn at Moss Neck, Mr. Corbin’s little daughter, a child of six years old, became a special favourite.  “Her pretty face and winsome ways were so charming that he requested her mother that she might visit him every afternoon, when the day’s labours were over.  He had always some little treat in store for her—­an orange or an apple—­but one afternoon he found that his supply of good things was exhausted.  Glancing round the room he eye fell on a new uniform cap, ornamented with a gold band.  Taking his knife, he ripped off the braid, and fastened it among the curls of his little playfellow.”  A little later the child was taken ill, and after