Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1867-07-26
The Rebel Armies.

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Tribune, who has obtained access to
the rebel archives, furnishes some in
teresting statistics respecting the num-
Der of soldiers put in the field by the
rebels, and the strength of their ar
mics at various periods during the
war. From the figures given it ap-
pears that the army of Northern Vir-
ginia, when Lee took command in
June, 1862, numbered 100000 men
present for duty. In July this num-
Der was reduced to 69,559 by the
seven days battle with Mcclellan be-
fore Richmond. By August these
losses had been so far made good
that Lee had $4,000 men fit for active
duty, with whom he began a move
ment against Washington, resulting
in the defeat of Pope and the turning
back Of the rebel forces at Antietam
by Mcclellan. During this campaign
Lees forces was reduced to $4,000
loss of about 10000 men, of whom
it is said quite half were stragglers
who never rejoined their ranks. In
June, 1868, Lees army once more,and
for the last time, counted 100000
men fit for active duty. With this
large force he again attempted an in
vasion of the North, but met with a
fatal defeat at Gettysburg, and in one
short month lost $4,000 men, which
reduced his force to 41,135. The
absolute loss in this campaign, in kill
ed, wounded and prisoners, was fully
10000, almost half his army. Never
after did the army of Northern Vir-
ginia, which for four years was the
bulwark and pride of the rebels, num-
Der 10000 effective men. The latest
return shows that in February, 1865,
there were 59,094 present for duty,
and when it finally retreated from
Richmond it is doubtful if the entire
force exceeded $4,000 men. The
above figures represent the number
fit for active service. They were
present, all along, from seven to
twenty-five thousand who were not
On duty.
The department of Richmond, which
was organized in the summer of 1862
while Lees army was away fighting
Pope, had in September of that year
23,602 troops, but this number was
afterward greatly reduced, and after
December, 1868, appears to have con-
sisted of the local militia, composed
mainly of government employee and
exempts from the regular service. 1t
is evident that Richmond might easily
have been taken by small force, sew
aRArt5 rt51off9t Of tn" nhe" Sofaftf6f 81 things. H.
Thus, in June, 1868, when Lee
began his march to Pennsylvania, a
demonstration was actually made by
a force of some $4,000 from York
town; it reached the Chickahominy,
but finding the bridges guarded, it re-
turned without making any attempt
at going further. At this time, there
were but 5000 men there present for
duty, and but 5000, counting all,
present and absent. Again in Feb
ruary, 1864, when Fitzpatrick made
the raid in which Dahlgren was kill
ed, having actually penetrated the
lines of fortifcation, there were but
1000 of these militia in Richmond,
besides about 1000 under Winder,
forming what was called the De-
partment of Henrico,' who formed the
guard for the prisoners. Had Kill
patrick kept his cavalry force togeth-
er, he might have rode into the city
and liberated the prisoners. Or had
his cavalry raid been supported by a
few t h usand infantry, Richmond
might have been taken and held"
In July, 1862, the rebel armies, East
and West, numbered altogether 217,-
600; in April, 1864, 209,O0O; in
November, 1864, 10000. The rebel
armies undoubtedly reached their
highest point, both in numbers and
efficiency, in the early summer of 1863
when the movement into Pennsylvania
was commenced. At the close of
March, before all preparations had
been made, the returns show nomi-
nal force of $4,000, of whom 341,-
900 were present, and 2S1, 900 pres
ent for duty. Probably about 10000
were added during the next six weeks
to the Army of the East; so that we
may safely say that at the middle of
June, there were litGle more than
, 100000 on the muster rolls, of whom
100000 were present for duty. In
/. the first week of July, that year, they
sustained losses amounting to full
100000 men. In the spring of 1854,
when Grant opened his campaign, Lee
had only little more than $4,000.
From this time the returns show that
desertion was exceedingly prevalent
in all the rebel armies. In August,
out of a nominal force of $4,000,
; there were not 100000 present for
duty in all the armies. Probably In
all 100000 different men were In the
rebel ranks during the war, of whom
, it is not likely more than one-half are
. alive at this day. ed .
If the above figures are correct the
rebel armies were much smaller than
they had the credit Of being during
: the war. This was undoubtedly the
case also with the Union armies
E~ox, n :. e ,xo f:cfioa of tho