The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-01-03
LE11ER ERuM LIEur..cENERAL EARLY.


the New York Ne1s:-HavinR seen it stated in
several papers published in the United States
that am an applicant for pardon, l desire to
say through your columns, that there is no truth
whatever in this statement. have neither made
nor authorized such application, and would not
accept pardon from the President of the
United States if gratuitously rendered me with
out conditions or restrictions of any KIND. have
nothing to regret in the course pursued by me
during the war, except that my services we're
not OF more avail to the cause for which
fought; and nv faith in the Justice of that cause
is not at ali shaken by the result. III.
l have not given parole or incurred anv OBJ
ligation to the authorities of the United States,
and utterly discaIm all allegiance to or de-
pendence upon the Government of chat country
] am voluntary exile from my own country,
because am not willing to submit to the foreign
woke imposed upon ". All declarations at
tributed to me which are inconsistent with the
above statement are entirely without founda-
ton, and hope that there win be no further
misapprehension as to my position.
The reports of the campaigns of 1854 and 1865
by Secretary Stanton and Northumberland
Grant recently published, contain many erro-
neOus statements which do great injustice to
the Confederate armies. The press in the Souto.
eIn States Is AZ present eilectually muzzled by
military rule, and the Confederate cause has no
appropriate organ bv which the ears of the
world can be reached. The time will arrive
be written, so as to enable foreign nations and
posterity 10 do justice TO the character of those
who have sustained so unequal struggle for al
that is dear TO man. In anticipation of that
time will call attention to some facts which
will sho the tremendous odds the Confederate
armies had to encounter.
Mr.. Secretary Stanton's report shows that the
available strength present Tor duty IN the GrmY
with which General Grant commenced the cam.
paign of 1854 was or lst OF May, 1854, as fol-
loRs:-
The Army of the Potomac under General
The 9th Army Corps tunder Gen. Burnside. 2O78O
Aggregate =. ..........................14 .141, ,168
Besides this, he says the chiet part of the force
designed to guard the Middle Department and
the Department of Washington "was called to
the front to repair losses in the Army OF the
Potomac" which doubtless was done before that
army left the vicinity of Spotsylvanta Court
House, as General Grant says:-"Ihe 18th, l4th
10th, 16th 18th, and 18th tot May 1861 were con-
sumed IN manmuvring and waiting for reinforce
ments from Washington" and Mr.. Stanton says
the sending of these troops to The front caused
the detach1ng from General Lees army of the
force under me to threaten Baltimore and Wash
ington. The available strength of the forces in
those Departments, on the lst of May, accord
inc to Mr.. Stantons report, was as follows:-
In the Department of Washington. ...,.......42 14
In the Middle Department. t......,............ 5627
Aggregate. ...........................47,75
OF which it may be safely assumed that at least
forty thousand men were sent to the front, as
General Grant says that, when i approached
Washington, the garrisons of that place and
Baltimore were made up Of heavy artillery
regiments, hundred days men, and detachmeuts
from the Invalid Corps" and, hence, it became
necessary to send troops from his army to meet
me. This therefore, made an army of over
$50, 900 men which General Lees army had to
meet before, as will show, 1t had received any
reinfoTcements whatever. This estimate does
not include the reinforcements received in the
way of recruits from voluntary enlistments and
the draft, which was eternally going ON, nor
does it include reinforcements from the North
ern Department and the Departments of the
East and the Susquehanna, where there were,
by Mr.. Stanton showing, 1884 available men
for duty, the greater part OF whom, it is pre-
sumed, were sent to Grant, as, otherwise, they
might have been brought to Washington TO meet
my force with more ease than troops from his
army
General Lees army, at the beginning of the
campaign, consisted of two divisions OF Long
streets Corps, Eweil's Corps, A. P. Hill's Corps,
three divisions of cavalry. and the artillery.
commanded, at different times during the cam
paign, HIPS and Ewells Corps, and am, there
FORE able to state very nearly the entire strength
of the army. EWelps Corps, TO which / be-
longed, did not exceed fourteen thousand
(l4,000) muskets at the beginning of the cam
paign. When | was placed in command of
Hill's Corps, on the Sth OF May, by reason of
General Hills sickness, its effective strength
was less than thirteen thousand Q3,00O) mus
kets, and it could not have exceeded eighteen
streets Corps was the weakest of the three
when all the divisions were present, and the
two with him had Just returned from an ar
dpous and eXhausting winter campaign in
East Tennessee. His effective strength
could not have exceeded eight thousand
10000 muskets. General Lees whole effective
infantry therefore, did not exceed forty thou
sand Gao, ,000) muskets, if it reached that number
The cavalry divisions were all weak, neither of
them exceeding the strength of good brigade.
The artillery was in proportion to the other arms
and was far exceeded by Grants not only in the
number of men and guns, but in weight OF metal,
and especially in the quality of the ammunition.
General Lees whole effective strength at the
opening or the campaign was not over fifty thou
sand (60.000) men of all arms There were no
means of recruiting the ranks of his army, and
no achievements were received until 1t reached
Hanover Junction, on the 23d of Nay. 1t was
this force therefore, which compelled Grant,
after the fighting at the Wilderness and around
Spotsylvania Court House, including the me-
morabe 18th of May, to wait six days for re-
inforcements from Washington before he
could move, and baf1ed his favorite plan OF
reaching Richmond. At Hanover Junction
General Lee was joined by Plckett's Division OF
LongstTeets Corps, one small brigade OF my d.
vision, of Ewelps Corps, which had been in
North Carolina with Hoke, and two small bri-
gades, with battalion of artillery under Breck-
inridge. This force under Breckinrdge, which
General Grant estimates at 15 000 and which
was subsequently united to mine at Lynchburg,
did not exceed two thousand (2000) musl1ets. AT
Coal Harbor, about the lst of june Hoke's Dt-
vision 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 William e..
Jones at Piedmont, in the Shenandoah Valley,
and EWell's Corps, with two battalions of ar
tllery, were detached under my command on the
morning of the 18th of June, to meet Hunter, This
rbaIo oaA oil rafn anfC c,,o