The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1861-10-10
Immense Armies.

There is little doutt that the afnfe
now in Washington and its vicinity a
mount to the immense aggregate Of near
/ ly 20O, 600 men on each side, or 400, ,00'
combatauts. Whenever a general battl
shall occur. it shall not only have no par
allel on the Western Continent in the for
ces engaged. but hardly one in the histo
~ even of modern Europe will vie will
it. The great battles Of Napoleon were
generally fought with numbers far infe
rior to those now under the walls o.
Washington. For instance, at Auster
litz, where Napoleon defeated the com.
bined armies Of Russia and Austria, be
had but $4,000 troops, the Allies had
lOO, 900. At Jena aud Auerstadt. " here
be broke the power of Prussia, bis force:
were not over 1905 strong At the
great battle of Wagram, fought with the
Austrians on the banks of the Danube
in 1909, he had but 10000 men Al
Borodino. under the walls of Moscow, he
had but l20, 900 to oppose the Russians
AT Waterloo be did not have to exceed
$4,000 troops. Not one of the battles in
Italy or Spain ever equaled this last nun
ber. The only battle field we now re-
collect Of where the combatauts we're as
numerous as those around Washington,
was Leipsic, in 1918, where Napoleon
had $4,000, and the AlIies--Russians,
Austrians, Prussiaus, Sweedes and Ger.
msns-numbered 100000. Nearly hall
a million of men took part in this tremen-
dous battle, which was known as the
combat Of the Giants. 1t lasted three
days, and ended in a complete overthrow
of Napoleon, who was driven into France
where series of disasters commenced
that did not end autil Napoleon abdica-
ted bis crown, and was exiled to the Is
land of Cuba, in 1914. No battle was
ever fought on the soil of the United
States where so, 600 coz hatants took part
in it on both sides.
From these figures we can judge ol
what battle we have reason to expect
when the hosts of Mcclellan and Beaure.
gard, more than twice the Dumber o
those of Napoleon and Wellington at Wa.
terloo, come in collision on the banks oi
the Potomac. 1t will be an event that
will be the great military feature, proba-
bly,, for ages to come, of martial prowess
10 America. Washington never had
thirty thousand men in one army uuder
bis command; Jackson never bad fifteen
thousand. and Scott never before the
present year bad seen twenty thousand
troops under bis orders. Great is the
ability required to maueuvre and handle
such a large body of men, and bring
them all into action at the proper time
and place. The late battle at Bull Run
extended over seven miles from one end
of our line to another. At Washington
probably. the battle may be raging over
a field double this size.
To know what is going on 10 such ar
amphitheatrc, and to be prepared to or.
der up reserves and engtben every ex
posed point, requires the highest desfet
of intellect. At the battle of Bull Rur
half of both armies never fired a shot
Beauregard bad forty thousand men Al
Manassas Junction, only three miles dis
tant, whom be never used, and yet ht
would have been defeated bad it not beer
for the Opportune and unexpected arriva
of a portion of Gen. Johnson's army from
the Upper Potomac. Mcdowell had I
powerful reserve, that took no part wba
ever in the action, and yet it was stroDI
enough to have beaten back johnson
division if it bad been on hand at th
proper moment. We have con6denc
that Mcclellan has not only plenty Q
men, but believe be knows how to US
tbem.-Ctn. Eng.