The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1866-01-04

yania Court House, as General Grant
saws: ,The 18th, 14th, 18th, 10th, 18th
and 18th (of May, 1864 were consumed
in maneyering and waiting for reinforce
ments from Washington" and Mr.. Stan
ton saws the sending of these troops to
the front caused the detaching from
General Lees army of the force under me
TO threaten Baltimore and Washington
The available strength of the force IN
those department, on the hrst Vi May
according to Mr.. Stanton's report was al
follows:
In the Department of Washington .-42 ia s4
In the Middle Department. .--....-..- o4f
Aogrs0ate Al, I'll
of which it may be safely assumed that
as least &C, 900 men were sent to the front,
and General Grant says that, when ap..
preached Washington, the garrisons OF
that place an Baltimore were made up
of heavy artillery regiments, hundred
DAYS men, and detachments from the In
valid Corps" and hence il became neces-
sary to send troops from his army to
meet me. This, therefore, made an army
| of over ISO, 900 men, which General Lees
| army had to meet before, as l VIII show,
| it had received any reihforcements
| whatever This estimate does not In
clude the renforcements received in the
| vay of recruits from voluntary enlist
| ments and the draft, which was actively
| roino on, nor does il include reinforce
| mepts received from the Northern De-
| partment and the Departments OF the
| East and the Susquehanua, where there
| were, from Mr. Stanton's showing, 49,,
| 344 available men for duty. the greater
| part of which it is presumed, were sent
| TO Grant. or otherwise, they might nave
been brought 10 Washington TO meet
nv force with more ease than tT00ps1rOm
| his army
General Lees army at the beginning
| of fine campaign, consisted of two divis-
| IONS Of L.oligstreet's Corps Ewell's Corps,
| A p HIPS Corps, three divisions Of cav,
| alrv and the artillery. commanded, at
different times during the campaign,
HIPS and Ewell's Corps, and am, there
fore able 10 state very nearly the entire
which | belonged, did not exceed four.
teen thousand N4,000) muskets at the
beginuing of the campaign. When l was
18th of May, by reason of General Hills
sickness, its effective strength was less
than thirteen thousand (l3,UOU) mnskets,
and it could not have exceeded eighteen
thousand ne ,0OO) in the beginning
Longstreet's Corps was the weakest OF
the three when all the divisions We're
present, and the two with him had just
returned from IN aranOus aud exhaust
ing winter campaign III East Tennessee.
His effective strength could not have eX-
ceeded eight thousand (S,OOO) mnskets.
General Lees whole effective infantry,
therefore, did not exceed forty thousand
(4O. OOO) muskets, if it reached that num-
Der. The cavalry divisions were all weak,
neither of them exceeding the strength of
a good brigade The artillery was in pro-
norton to the other arms, and was far
exceeded by Grants, not only III the
number of men and guns, but in weight
of metal, and especially Ill the quality OF
the ammunition. General Lees whole
effective strength at the opening OF the
campaign was not over fifty thousand
$50, 0OO) men of all arms. There were
no means of recruiting the ranks of
his army, and 40 achievements
were received until it reached Han.
over junction, on the 23d of May 1t was
this force, therefore, which compelled
Grant, after the fighting at the Wilder
ness and around Spotsylvania Court
House, including the memorable 18th of
May, to wait six days for reinforcements
from! Washington before he could move,
and baliied his iayerte plan of reaching
Richmond. At Hanover junction Gen.
Lee Was Joined by Pickett's division of
LOngstreet's corps, one small brigade Of
nv division of Ewell's corps which had
been in North Carolina with Hoke. and
two small brigades, with battalion OF
artillery, under Breckenridge. This force
under Breckenridge, which Grant esti-
mates at $1,000, and which was subse.
quentlyunited to mine at Lynchburg, did
not exceed two thousand 10000 mus
kets. At Coal Harbor, about the LIST of
June, HokeS division, from Petersburg,
Joined General Lee, but Breckinridge's
force was sent back Immediately after its
arrival near that place, on account OF the
defeat and death of General VIM. +.
Jones, at Piedmont, III the Shenandoah
Valley, and Ewelrs corps, with two bat
talions of artillery, was detached under
my command on the morning OF tue 18th
of June TO meet Hunter. This counter
balanced all reinforcements The fore
going statement which fully covers Gen.
Lees strength shows the disparity of
forces between the two armies in the be
ginning, and il was never lessened- after
they reached the vicinity o. Richmond
aud Petersburg, but was greatly in.
creased. The curious may speculate as
to what would have been the result if
the resources in men and munitions of
war if the two commanders had been re-
versed on if Lees strength had approx
mated Grants. Occupying a neutral pc,
sition, as between the two Federal COM
manders, Grant and Butler, and certain
" having n reason to admire the latter
| cannot but be amused at the effort of
Grant, by the use of few fash phrases,
to make Butler the scapegoat of all his
failures.
The disparity between the forces OF
Sheridan aud myself i'll the Valley cam
paign was even greater than thar be-
tween Lee and Grant Ny force, when |
arrived ia front OF the Notifications of
Washington on the 18th of July, 1864,
was eight thousand 5000 muskets,
three small hattalions Of artillery with
about forty (4O) field pieces. of which
the largest were twelve-pouuder Napo-
Icons, and about two thousand (2000)
badly mounted and equipped cavalry,
Of yrb;,G larra uaptjnp had hpeD de-