Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1862-10-03
tFrom the New York Times of the 23l.l
Condition. of the Rebel Army

[ Not one man IN thousand can report
correctly facts observed by him. Any
one familiar with the giving of testi-
mony in courts, or with the reports of
scientific phenomena by inexperienced
persons, will readily agree to this state
ment. Very few meu, indeed, when
they observe facts, see the important t
ones, or remember them when they do
see them. We presume the whole pub
lilo, like ourselves, has felt this difficulty
IN the reports with regard to. the eondi-
ton and numbers of the rebel army
The accounts seemed so often purely
sensation descriptions, and to be made
by people of SO little habit of observa-
tion, or under such excitement of feel
ing, that we have come to put very little
confidence in them $50 - +
- We have Just had an opportunity of
conversing witk one of our surgeons
who was captured at Harper's Ferry
gentleman of scientific habit of mind
and close observation. He had the op-
portunity which, till then, had scarcely
been enjoyed by any loyalist, of seeing
nearly the whole rebel army march by,
rs they were crossing the Potomac.
There we're two corps d armee-that of
Lengstreet and Stonewall Jackson
Taey marched in tlco solid columns orer
the bridges, and ,oere about fifteen hours
IN passing. This gentleman counted the
numbers in gipen time, and then made
rough estimate Of the aehole force-his
reckoning ,oould shoto those corps alone
naDzberiag close upon 10000. ~,ss7,'--
He had heard the usual accounts OF
the costume. appearance and condition
of the rebel army, and, like most of us,
supposed them exaggerations. But he
now says that no descriptions he has
seen approach the truth. There never
was bobeld such gang of ragged,
rowdy looking men. 1t was like an
army ofrag -pickers. There was no uni
form or attempt at uniform Officers
and men were equally dirty and dingy.
Their hats were commonly old "Wide-
Awakes, stained by long campaign,
often with the tops gone, and the hair
streaming out. Their trowsers were of
all eolors, and generally in tatters up to
the knees. The coats, if they had any,
we're dirty and ragged, and often we'll
creased by the piece of bacon which
each man carried on his bayonet. The
shirts were black with long use. One
officer told our informant that he had
not been able TO change his shirt for six
weeks. Their blankets were of all col
ois aud materials-eften bits Of carpet
ing and old bed comfcrters. Nearly
one half Of the men were barefooted.-
They carried their crackers and bullets
und caps all together in their poeke cts.
Both officers and men were excessively
lousy, and the stencil from the passing
columns was almost unbearable.
AS they marched by, our men were
surprised at first at the great number of
field officers, riding in the lines, and
then at the small numbers gathered
around the flags. Their first theory
was that these were sections of regi-
ments, each with a separate, flag. But
they soon discovered that they were
bona Jide regiments, numbering from
$50 to 800 men, with their own banners
and mounted officers. Many of these
regiments, they we're informed, had
numbered 1000 and l, 100 men. Their
method of treating their sick and
wounded would account for much of
this diminution. After each regiment,
followed some half dozen men with
stretchers, and whenever a man fell out
of the ranks from sickness, he was taken
at once to the nearest house, and left
there to the mercies of the country peo-
pie. So with those wounded or ope-
rated on in battle. They were never
carried with the army. The men were
by no means in good spirits. They told
our informant that they had been con-
stantly walking since the battles before
Richmond, and with very little to eat
They reproached jackson with working
them too hard. There was no enthusi-
usm shown by any of them, and the
North Carolinians and the Irish were
particularly lukewarln. The Virginians
alone expressed some bitterness, on ac-
count Of the ravages which their State
had suffered. They evidently felt the
deepest disappointment at their receipt
ion in Maryland. With regard to the
future prospects of the war, their great
hope and sustaining assurance was that
tho two new Ievies, by volunteering and
drafting, could not possibly be raised at
the North. We had come, they be-
lieved, to the end of our power.
The whole rebel army had, to the
eyes of this medical gentleman and his
associates, a worn out, exhausted look
The physique was inferior to that of OUT
men, and they evidently suffered from
want of food and oyerwork. Even the
horses looked wretcbedly.
With such testimony as this, from
persons accustomed especially to judge
Of the physical condition of men, what
may not be believed of the present CON
dition of the rebel army?
Men can fight on empty stor1achs ano
endure long and harrassing marches
where victory and plunder reward them
But now to retrace the weary steps ove1
desolated country, under the con
seriousness of defeat and diseaster, ane
with an active enemy behind them
must have most discouraging effec
upon them. They want rest and food
This is precisely what we should not al
low them. Energy now on our part Il
worth all to US. An ipcessant, vigorous
attack from our forces might go far t.
break I'D and utterly demoralize th'