It is evident enough that if all the millions of the South remain united to the death in the cause of secession, little else than a guerilla warfare of endless length is to be hoped for.  The accounts of the enthusiasm and harmony at present prevailing in Eastern Virginia, and in other places controlled by the active secessionists, have struck terror to the hearts of many.  But, united though they be, they must be more than mortal if they could resist the influences of a counter-revolution, and of strong bodies of enemies in the heart of their country, aided by a mighty foe without.  ‘Hercules was a strong man,’ says the proverb, ‘but he could not pay money when he had none;’ and the South may be strong, but she can hardly fail to be entirely crippled when certain agencies shall be brought to bear against her.  Let us examine them, and find wherein her weakness consists.

The first is the easy possibility of a counter-revolution among the inhabitants of the mountain districts, who hold but few slaves, who have preserved a devoted love for the Union, and who are, if not at positive feud, at least on anything but social harmony with their aristocratic neighbors of the lowlands and of the plantation.  Unlike the ’mean whites’ who live among slaves and slave-holders, and are virtually more degraded than the blacks, these mountaineers are men of strong character and common-sense, combining the industrious disposition of the North with the fierce pride of the South.  And so numerous are they, and so wide is the range of country which they inhabit, that it would seem miraculous if with their aid, and that of other causes which will be referred to, a counter-revolution could not be established, which would sweep the slaveocracy from existence.

In a pamphlet entitled ‘Alleghania,’ by James W. Taylor, published at Saint Paul, Minnesota, by James Davenport, the reader will find ’a geographical and statistical memoir, exhibiting the strength of the Union, and the weakness of slavery in the mountain districts of the South,’ which is well worth careful study at this crisis.  Let the reader take the map and trace on it the dark caterpillar-like lines of the Alleghanies from Pennsylvania southward.  Not until he reaches Northern Alabama will he find its end.  In these mountain districts which form ‘the Switzerland of the South,’ a population exists on whom slavery has no hold, who are free and lovers of freedom, and who will undoubtedly co-operate with the Union in reestablishing its power.  This ‘Alleghania’ embraces thirteen counties of North Carolina, three of South Carolina, twenty of Georgia, fifteen of Alabama, and twenty-six of Tennessee.

According to Humboldt and other writers on climatology, an elevation of two hundred and sixty-seven feet above the level of the sea is equivalent in general influence upon vegetation to a degree of latitude northward, at the level of the ocean.  Therefore we are not surprised to learn from Olmsted that ‘Alleghania’ does not differ greatly in climate from Long Island, Southern New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.  ’The usual crops are the same, those of most consequence being corn, rye, oats and grass.  Fruit is a more precarious crop, from a greater liability to severe frosts after the swelling of the buds in the spring.  Snow has fallen several inches in the month of April.’[A]