The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1866-01-03
What the Report Of the Secretary
Of War Shows.

J The Rclmoil Wing derived the, 70
! lowing Interesting facts from the r re
OF the Secretary of War:
The report Of the Secretary Of Wa
! throws light on a matter of history in re
> gard to which much interest has been Eel
BY the public We refer to the strength 0
the ArInyof the Potomac, under tie i'm
: mediate commend. ofGen. Meade, but di
: fectea by the Lieutenant General, at TIL.
TWO inpoi4antpepiods ofthe Spring of iS6:
and the Spring Of 1865, Gen. Mead,
,, crossed the kapiaan on the 4th of Nav
.. 1864, with l.o,389 men. Gen. Gran;
says in his report that '.hy six o'clock o.
the morning Of the 9Th, he Gen. Burnside,
vas leadiaglhis corps into action near the,
Wilderness tavern" Burnside force {tIle
! Ninth Corps iiHllbcged 20,09O. Thus, Il
I the second battle iWsilderiess) after eros
sing the Rapidan, Gen. Meade had, under
his Immediate command, one hundred and
4 iosty odd thousand troops. From the best
information VIZ, can obtain, Gen. Lees ar
fmy commenced this; series of battle about
Iscventy thousand strong, and received no
reinforceinents, except the snaH force of
| three OR four thousand that came from the
| Valley under Dreckinrilge, shortly before
/ the battle OF Cold iIarbor.
After the battle Of spottsylvaaia Court
House, reinforcenents. in large numbers,
were sent to Gen. Grant from WASHINGTON;
and upon his forming ajunctioll with Gen.
Butler,yhe was reinforced by the whole
strength OF the Army of the James. In
the meantime Gen. Lee had been compelled
10 weaken himself by sending. Breckinridge
back to the VALLEY, and dispatching Early, /
with some fifteen or twenty thousand men,
to meet Haater, then moving en- Lynch
burg. This reduction. .of force was not
compensated 10y the accession gained from
the garrison of Richmond and the force be-
tween wee this city and Petersburg under Beau
regard.
On the lst of March. 1865, a month be-
fore the final and successful assault on
Lees lines, the strength of the Army of
the Potomac is given by Secretary Stanton
as 1929. This was the "agaiiable force
present for duty The exact strength of
The james. at that date, is not stated; but
tlie number Of troops present for. duty in /,
Ihe Department Of Virginia was 1886. +
These, without doubt, were nearly oil with II
zen. Butler. Added to the Army Of the /,
Potomac, they make las, $50. 1t was ui,- )
ierstood in Richmond that, in addition to
he numbers here given, Gen. Grant was !
ecelving heavy achievements all through Il
March, and it is known that toward the !
lose OF TINT month he was joined by Gen. {
sheridan with his splendid cavalry. Al
ogether it seems probable that the force
II front of Richmond and Petersburg near
approxinlated, fit did not reach, zoo
100.
10 meet this immense array Gen. Lee W
ould muster not more than 10000 men.
he number s,ilvebdercdl,. him is stated '
the report as 25sG5; bat we believe the n
amber on duty, with arms in their hands. S
he morning ot3the day On which the SIR c,
snder was made. did not reach 5000. Ii !.
be said that 10000 men beliindsucf de- Q
noes as had been constructed around this e
ty, ought to have been able to resist ZOO
W, the reply is that the skillful mannuver-
g of Gen. Grant compelled Gen. Lee to Leg
stend his lines; that his works were at Idi
. point sufficiently Manned Where his cl
ne was broken the men stood ten or pr
teen PAGES apart.