today we were up against some boys from the Midwest, those farm boys can sure shoot straighter than the Yankees

Ken, I think that the average southerner was a better shot and more of an outdoorsman than the average New Englander (not putting down New England) but they were in clerk, factories and industry jobs a lot of them. I'm not knocking the men of the AoP, they are my main interest in the war. I think generalship was the bulk of their problem, but I agree that at first they probably were not the fighters the rebs were. Boys from the Mid-West however were more culturally like you guys. There was a general from back east who during the war visited the western theatre. He was quite shocked, he said these troops look like rebs, talk like rebs, act like rebs and if they weren't in blue could be rebs. I think you rebs have to admit you found the mid-west boys a little harder to chaw than those from back east. Look at the war in the west. Also back east what was the flightiness Yanks around? The Iron Brigade....Wisconsin, Indiana boys.

We Mid-West folks consider the Mid-West mostly what was the old North West Territory. Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. So to us you are right about the Ohio, Pennsylvania line.