The daily clarion. [volume] (Meridian, Miss.) 1863-1866, 1866-01-13
General EarIy's LetseY

General EnrIy's I.etser,
Inc reports of Secretary StaBton and Lieu
Q General Grant, on the campaigns of the tvr
. last years, have called forth letter fro,
{ Ieneral Earl y, at Havana, which is publish
ed IN the New York News. It's object is +
exhibit the djsnarity of the forces of Gene,
, 1t' Grant, and of Generals Sherida1
-.--L Early, but the writer begins bv YER
: emphatically defining his position, as fol
) lows:
having seen it stated in several nanor
published inithe United States that 7 Inn =,
applicant Tor pardon, | desire to saw +hror oI
your columns, that there is no triItb VIII p
ever III TINS statement. | have never mad,
nor authorized such application, and would
not aCc..t pardon from the President ot
the United States if rratuitousIv ta,,,Iaroj
II!c H1|IouL conditions or restrictions of any
KIND. have nothing to regretin tI,econTete
pursued by me during the war. excent t1,a+
| MY services were not Of more ayail To +bn
cause lor which [ fought; and NIX faith in
the ostlce OF that cause is not at all shal,cn
~ Cile result. have not given a parole or
IL ~ any opugatlon to the authorities OF
tne United States, and | utterly discIain1
az d alieSlance to, or dependence upon. the
ooNerhnlent OF that country | am n vo4nn
| IdIy exile from my own country hecausa 7
am not willing to submit to the foreign woke
imposed upon it. All declarations 9tfT:l,n-
CGu 10 Ine which are inconsiste,,+ =. iii fhe
dation "A'iio"0 IoIh-
1he following extracts contain the main
substance OF Gen. Early,s statements re-
spectlng the forces engaged:
=, MI Secretory Stanton's report shows that
tIe tne available strength present FOR duty in
the army with which General Grant con-
ntenGed 1t t1 me campaign of 1864 was, on first
OF May, 1864, as follows;
The Army of the Potomac (updar canor.1
Meade,) 1870 1888. 0'oii0h u |
ne 2 9TH Army Corps (under General Burn |
~ tls In 11akes @ the aggregate number of the
=. BESIDES this, he says the chief part of tho
Lorce designed to guard tha Middle Depart-
Ieht ana the Department of WasbiDoton
was called to the front to repair the losses
u the Army Of the Potomac" The avail
lDIe strength III those departments. on fbc
81 ol may, according to Mr.. Stanton's re-
'ort was as follows:
In Ia 1he department Of Washington AZ, ,125.
Ia the Middle Department 56S7. {
dakIng the aggregate 47,75I. g
VI this number, 1t may be safely assumed I
nat at least 10000 men were e+,,t to tba {
ont Ihls, therefore, made an army of 1
00'oOo ulou "IlIcn General Lees army Z
al TO meet before it had received any re C
liorcemeuts whatever This estimate 5In9s h
OJ include the reinfOrcements received in =
IL way OF recruits from voluntary enlist Il
eht and the draft, which were constantly t
1lng on, nor does it include reinforcernants Il
ON the Northern department and the De- a
u u uItHlehts OF the East and the Susque- II
'nna, Nnefe; there Were, by MF. Stanton's
owing, lo,IJ4 a-"ilabIe men for dntS-. tba =
eater part OF which, 1T is presumed, were T
NJ to Grant, as, otherwise they nirbt | -
We been brought to Washington to meet ~
force with more ease than troops from r.
army. -'''A | u u
General Lees army, at the beginning ofl r
campaign, consisted of two divisions Of W.
ngstreet's corps, EweIIs corps, A. p. Hill,s ~,
rps, tk-2a divisions Of cavalry = ~ -;
llery. EwelFs corps did not exceed Ia w.
Ihuskets at the beginning of the cam ice
gh. hen was placed IN command of 81,
~ corps on the 8th Of May, its effective ar
ehgth was less than 1900 muskets, and ea,
onld not have exceeded $4,000 in the be- M
nIng. 1ongstTets effective strength ma
10 not nave exceeded $4,000 mlskets. the
leral Lees whole effective Infantry ~
reIore, did not exceed 10000 muskets, i'll fbi
eached that number. The cavalry tii- fba
ohs were All weak, neither of them ex- of
ing the strength ola good brigade
he artillery was in proportion to the oti,-i anc
o,111 - +L,,'-1I. 90 ItL eACee'ed Dy GrantS- uin
- ttr .i.'ilioeI % men ara guns, but Uni
iiy oI the ammunition. General Lee Y
lie effective strength at the opening Of MAJ
was not over so 600 ift.5, of ,1i will
). There We're no means ofrecruting tho ceiy
IS OF his army, and no re-inforcements mot
received until it reached Hanover the!
;tlon, on the 23d of May. At Hanover pIac
;tion Ean i-sc wBs Joined by PicIxett,s InesI
1longstreets corps, one small brig III
u my DIVISION OF Ewel's corps which cont
been in North Carolina with Hoka .nI | sery
small brigadeS, with battalion of artiI1 such
under breckenridge. This force aln,le,s are
which Gen Grant estimates
9UO, and which was Subsequently, unified -
ne at LynchbuTg, did not exceed two ~
sand muskets. At Col HORROR. abonti .s,5
fst OF June, Hobe's division from Peters bar..
joined gen. Lee, but Breckenridge's
agas ssaa that 91e place sas5s Of 1sss d.
md death OF Gen VIM. L. Jones. at Pied ~ .
; IN the Shenadoah Valley, and EwelFs +.
with two battalionS OF artillery srae
heu under my command on the I1ol1ls1,er -
Ioth ofJune to meet Hunter This + 81.
er-oaIanced all reinforceInents The
'lng statement, which fully eo1ers- Cf.,, / a ze
strength, shows the disparity OF f;,reae Il =
en the two armies in the beeinninp
3 vas never Iessened after they Teaflfsd
entity of Richmond and Petersbnrtr ~
as greatly increased
disparity between the forces of Sheri- -
I'd myself in the Valley campaign was
greater than that between Lee audi WI
.+it loIee When, en- arrived In front of 1866,
- ol ~ was s0ee admin
.o 80 LII Az neld pieces OF which TaylO
'out 1900 badly mounted and eauif,. sf5aJn.
vairy, of which large portion had and h,
= oi4;,alos " csII one Ialnoads leading law, o
=, Noltn oeneral Gralt says debtet
e ~ u me oiAtn Corps, and payne