Read any of the books about the South back then, and every single Reb knew they could whip a dozen Yanks. Every single time there was a parade or an article in the paper, or anything else, Johnny Reb was going to show those Yankees.
Down here we call that attitude "heart". Or "spirit". They believed and acted.
Didn't do too bad considering what they had to work with. What were they s'posed to do? Wouldn't you get a little pissy about .gov jackin with your livelihood? And I'm sure, knowing my brethren, that there was more than a little "liquid influence" to some calls for action. Which would be published, just like now, cause it's "interesting".
Either way, they were much more credible than us current chickenchit who sit around pissing and moaning on the internet while the left creates their havoc, eh? d;^)
Not sure just yet what ta do bout that.