I don't believe that he means it as a threat he really does mean it as an idolization of powerlessness due to the fact that throughout the poem he's using language that you could only expect from someone in a hopeless or powerless situation an de to the fact that the tone is slow and you could say placed in a logical way as to show a sense of powerlessness (hope this helps)
According to this, the answer is A.
The Federal soldiers are the antagonists.
