James Ford Rhodes (18481927). History of the Civil War,
18611865. 1917. THAT war is an economic waste is a commonplace;
that the man is much more valuable than the dollar a truism, for
the great evil of war is the killing of men. Homers thought when
speaking of a lusty stripling who was smitten to the death
cannot fail to occur, He repaid not his dear parents the
recompense of his nurture.1 It is the tragedy of war that the
high-spirited men are at the front and the skulkers in the rear;
that the hearts of a large number of men are not in the fight.
And these flee from danger, saying with Falstaff, The better
part of valor is discretion; in the which better part I have
saved my life.2 In the course of this story we have seen how
civilians were made into soldiers to fight bloody battles which
presaged still greater sacrifices and a carnage of nearly three
more years. We have now to consider another factor in the
situation: to wit, money, which has come to mean the sinews of
war. It was indispensable that the U