Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-07-04

feWer Enau lou,UuU meut ne WAS lot
fortnight held in check by Magruder with
: barely Is, ,00O, vino, beside holding York
} town, had to guard a line of a dozen
= miles. When, after digging away at
Yorktown for a fortnight Mcclellan was
/, ready to assail that fOrtification, held, as
he supposed, by at least 100 600 men-he
having, as he saws, Sj,000-the COnfede.
rates actually had on the whole penin-
sula less than $4,000. And when he
finally reached the Chickahominy with
about 10000 effective men, the enemy
had at Richmond but 47, 600, increased at
the close of May 10 81, 900, sick and well,
probably about SO, 900 effective. Meade's
success at Gettysburg was so decided and
of such vital moment, that the feeble
ness OF his subsequent campaign IN Viz
ginia has been overlooked. When, at
the close of July, he had reached the
RappahannOck, he had fully so, 900 men.
. The figures which we give show that Lee
had only Il 900. Yet with this great
prepOnderance Halleck would not allow
Mead to attempt any offensive opera
lions But in October, when Meade had
10000 and Lee but 4j, 900, the union gen
eral was actually driven back almost
within sight Of Washington. This re-
treat from Culpepper 10 Csntreville is
utterly ineXylicable, for Halieck had
nothing to do with the movement, and
Meade knew that he was much stronger
than his enemy. This abOrtive cam
paign showed that Meade, an excellent
officer when backed up by a stronger
viii than his own, was wholly deficient
in the moral courage requisite for the
conduct Of campaign.
WAsHUNGroN, D. G, June ~ 1867.
Among the documents which fell into
q Il 80 ]. .. 81 r
eracy are the returns, very nearly COM
| plete, OF the Confederate armies, from
/ their organization in the summer Of 1851
down 10 the spring OF 1865. These re-
/ turns have been carefully anyliEed, and
I | am enabled to furnish the result in
every department, and for almost every
month. from these official sources. In
/ respect 20 the great "army of Northern
Z Virginia. commanded from almost the
/ first down to the last 10y Gen. Lee, the
/ reports are wanting fer three very i'm
pOrtaut periods: June, 1862, when the
/ operations of the "seytn dSysn were
/ commenced which resulted in forcing
/ Mcclellan from the Chickahominy to
{ the James; August 1868, when the
/ movement was commenced which re-
suited in the defeat OF Pope at the second
/ battle Of Boil Run, or, more properly, OF
N -
Maryland and the battle Of A.ntietam
and June, 1853, when was eCmmenced
/ the campaign for the invasion Of Penn
sylvania, marked by the battle Of Get
tysburE. But ! am able from other
sources to give almost exactly the Con
federate forces at these great epOchs. In
the tables which follow, these figures
will be given, inclOsed in brackets, to
distinguish them from the remaining |
numbers, which are summaries Of the !
official reports. The third column Of fig |
ures. throughout, shows the number Of |
men borne on the rolls, the second, those |
returned as "present; - the first, those /
reported ct the respective dates as "pres- /
ent for duty.' The effective force Of the /
armies at any given period is measured 1
very nearly by the numbers reported as
present for duty" although in case Of /
sudden movements the number may |
possibly have been somewhat increased |
from the merely " present. - and slightly 1
by getting back to the ranks some Of the
"absent"
The Confederate forces may properly
Le considered as forming two great ar
mics that of the east, comprising all /
the troops in Virginia and the states
bordering on tie Atlantic and the Gulf
Of Mexico, and that OF the west com
posed Of those operating in the valley of
tie Mississippi and the adjacent region.
There is 3 prevalent belief that these
armies mutually reinforced each other;
that is, that troops We're sent from the
east to the west, and from the west to
the east very frequently at critical pc
riods Of the campaigns. But as a care
ful analysis Of the ensuing tables will
show, this took place only in a single in
stance: in September, 1858, when Long
street, with his corps, was sent from
Virginia to Tepnessee, the remnants Of
this corps returning 90 Virginia in the
spring or summer of 1864. In fact, there
was a much greater interchange Of troops
between the union armies Of the east
aud the west than between those Of the
Confederacy.
1.-THE CONFEDERATE ARAITEs or THE
EAST.
Although, as will be seen, there were
very considerable forces in the CarOlinas ]
aud in Georgia, the bulk of the COnfede-
rate force in the east was throughout
comprised in that OF the army of North
ern Virginia" This was fairly organ
lied in the spring Of IS ,, when McClel- !
Ian had made his movement TO the
peninsula. Previous TO that time the
forces in Virginia had been
divided into a number Of "districts."
There vas, Cor eTample, the army Of !
the peninsula under Magruder; the {
" department OF Norfolk, r." under Huger; s
the " Acquia district" under Holmes,
and several others at different times. '
These were finally concentrated in the 1
spring OF 1862 at Yorktown and Rich {
mOnd, under the command OF J. &. '
Johnston have the full returns Of I
these separate bodies, but l do not think
it necessary to give them, as the eondi- /
ton and strength Of the army cOncen-
trated under Johnston was furnished TO +;
me by the commander himself. I may {
add, however, that the statement Of
Gen. Johnston comedies wholly with the '
returns which came into my hands more 5
than year later. In answer to a letter i
Of inquiry, Gen. Johnston, under GATE of
January g. 1866, wrote to me:
sin September, 1861, the effective
strength of the army under my COM c
mand in Northern Virginia was about 7
81, zoo. 1t occupied Leesburg, Centre !
vile. Manassas and the lower Occoquan.
On the 3Ist Of December il had increased c
to 54 coo, including JacksOn's cOmmsnd. @
This army was much reduced during the r
winter, but received some recruits in the f
early spring. When in April, 1862, it
moved to Williamsburg, its strength (ef- O
ltEAANEl " u BbVub DoftN'g va " nANAA No0N v
we're left with Jackson in the valley and n
5000 with Eyell on the Rappahannock. n
The remaining IS. 600 were sent to the Il
position near Yorktown. Magruder's
own force was about $1,000, making our h
army at Yorktown, about the middle Of y
April, near 80, 600, exclusive Of cavalry h
sickness and the fight at Williamsburg 4
reduced this number by 5000; our loss at II
Williamsburg was about 1900. The o
strength of this army, when it reached y
he neighbOrhOOd Of Richmond, was r
sbout A., goo. To those were added An
ierson's aud Branch's troops, abOutl3, 900 o
and three brigades of Huger's, not quite i
1000. This would make the effective of :
he army amount 10 about 81, 600 at the 3
lime of the battles of Fair Oaks and
Seven Pines May 81 J" a
Johnston was severely wS9nded at Fair b
Oaks, and the command deYolved upon s
=. w. Smith; but he had held it only d
'or day or two when he was attacked
Dy a paralytic stroke, and r. +. Lee was q
placed in command Of this army which o
ne retained as long as it existed. On the
18th of June he began his movement a
against Mcclellan. We have, in the Of a
ieial Confederate report Of the seven (,
lays, full means Of arriving at the force
hen under his command. Including '
JacksOn's command, which then Joined !
lim and ever after constituted part of
his army, it numbered a little over lO0,- ]
100 effective men, a number which it a
never exceeded, and nearly eqaaled only n
lpon two subsequent occasions. Lees K
irst report of his force is OF the date Of
July 20, more than a fortnight after the b
Datile Of Malvern Hill. II