New-York tribune., 1867-06-26
THE REBEL ARMY.

A HIGIILY-IAiPORT CHAPTER OF HISTORY.
STRENGTH OF THE REBELS IN THE FIEID-MUsTEB
ROLLS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY FOR 1862,
1853 AND 1864.
Prom Our Special Correspondent
WASHINGTON. d. c., Juno u, 1907
Among the documents which fell into our hands at
the downfall of the Confederacy the returns
very nearly complete of the Confederate Armies
from their organization in the Summer of 1851 down
to the Spring of 1865 These returns have been care
fully analyzed, and am enabled to furnish the re-
suit in every department and for almost every month";
from these official sources. In respect to the great
Army of Northern Virginia" commanded from
almost the first down to the last by Gen. Lee, the re-
ports wanting for three very important periods:
June 1862, when the operations of the Seven Days
were commenced which resulted in forcing Mcclellan
from the Chickahominy to the James; August, 1863,
when the movement commenced which resulted
in the defeat of Pope at the Second Battle OF Bull
Rum" or. more properly, of Groveton followed by
the invasion of Maryland and the battle OF Antietam
and June, 1868, when commenced the campaign
for the invasion of Pennsylvania, marked by the
battle of Gettysburg. But | am able from other
sources to give almost exactly the Confederate forces
at these great epochs. In the tables which follow,
these figures will be given inelosed in brackets. to
are summaries of the official reports. The
third column of figures, throughour shows the num-
Der of men borne on the rolls the second those re-
turned as Presents" the first those reported at the
respective dates as Present for Duty" The effective
force of the armies at any given period is measured
very nearly by the numbers reported Present for
Duty - although in case of sudden movements the
number may possibly have been somewhat increased
from the merely present" and slightly by getting
back to the ranks some of the . absent"
The Confederate forces may properly be considered
as forming two great armies: that of the East COM
prisng all the troops in Virginia and the States bor
derng on the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, and
that of the West composed of those operating in the
Valley of the MISSISSIPPI and the adjacent region.
There is prevalent belief that these armies mutually
reinforced each other that s that troops were sent
from the East to the West. and from the West to the
East very frequently at critical periods OF the cam
paigns. But as a careful analysis OF the ensuing
tables will show, this took place only In single IN
stance: in September, 1872 when Longstreet WIN in
his CORPS was sent from Virginia to Tennessee, the
remnants of this corps returning TO virginia IN the
Spring or Summer of 1864. In fact, there was much
greater interchange of troops between the Union
armies of the East and the West Dan between thoso
of the COnfederacy.
1.-THE CONFEDERATE ARMIES OF THE EAST
Although, as will be seem there were very consld.
erable forces in the Carolinas and IN Georgia, the
bulk of the Confederate force in the East was
throughout comprised in that of the 4" Army OK
Northern Virginia. This was fairly organized In
the Spring of 1862. when Mcclellan had made his
movement to the Peninsula Previous TO that time
the Confederate forces in Virginia had been divided
into number of districts" There was for exam
ple the f" Army of the Peninsula" under Magruder;
the Department of Norfolk" under Huger; the
"Acquia District" under Holmes and several others
at different times These finally concentratedn
the Spring of 1862 at Yorktown and Richmond under
the command of j. T.. Johnston. have the full re-
turns of these separate bodies but do not think it
10 flpnl
of the army concentrated under Johnston was 1ur-
nished to me by the Commander himself. may add
however that the statement OF Gen. Johnston CON-
cides wholly with the returns which came into my
hands more than year later. In answer to letter
of inquiry Gen. Johnston, under date OF January g.
In september 1851 the effective strength OF the army
under my command in Northern Virginia was about $1,000
Lower occoquan on the sist of Decemberi it had in
creased to $4,000, including Jackson's command This
army much reduced during the Winter but received
recruits in the early Spring When in April 1862 It
moved to @ esc m e M yae
and 5000 with Ewell the Rappahannock The remain
ing 5000 TO the position near Yorktown. Ma
grnders force was about 5 oO making our army at
Yorktown, about the middle OF April near 1900 exclu-
reduced this humber by GOO; our loss at Williamsburg
about 1900. The strength OF TINS army when u
reached the DeighborhOod OF Richmond, was about 4IO
TO these were added Andersons and Branch's troops,
about l9 ooo and three br gades OF Hugers not quite
to about at the time Of the battles OF Fair OAKS and
Seven Pines MAY 3D."
Johnston was severely wounded at Fair Oaks, and
the command devolved upon G. w. Smith; but he
had held it only for day or two when he was at
tackled by paralytic stroke. and X; r. Lee was
placed in command of this army, which he retained
as long as it existed On the 26th of June he began
his movement against Mcclellan. We have, in the
official Confederate report OF the seven days, fuil
means of arriving at the force then under his COM
mand Including Jackson's command, which then
Oined him. and ever after constituted part OF his
army il numbered little more than 100000 effective
men, number which it never exceeded, and nearly
eaualed only upon two subsequent occasions. Lees
first report of his force is of the date OF July 20 more
than a fortnight after the battle of Malvern Hill.
,prurSr op SoRTuFRS VIRGINIA FER 29 1857