Men Who Hit Are Determining Factor in War.
Other things being equal, good shooting is the determining factor in war. Poorly drilled and hastily organized bodies of men can give a good account of themselves if they know how to shoot and hit what they shoot at.
In our war for independence, says Army and Navy Life, the colonists were woodsmen. They carried and used their arms to supply their homes with food, and to protect them from the savage. As marksmen they vastly outclassed the British, and that more than anything else gave Washington the final victory.
Again, in our great civil war, mark the effect of a general knowledge of firearms. In the south were sporting people; they were fond of riding and hunting, shooting at target and at game entered into their sports and pastimes. The north was commercial.
Its men knew nothing of firearms, save the flintlocks of their grandfathers, objects of curiosity in their shops or homes, except in the far west, where the life of 1776 was still being lived. The result was that in the east the southern troops were generally victorious for a couple of years until the northern troops learned to shoot. What little success the north had was in the west, where they were little better than a standoff.
[The Holt County Sentinel, Oregon, Missouri, Friday, January 17, 1908. 43rd Year. Number 36 Pg. 6]
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