Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1867-07-06
REMARKABLE STATISTICS.
From the N. 0. Crescent. i

The New York Tribune, OF the 26tt
ult, contains remarkable paper from
its special correspondent at Washington
purporting TO exhibit the actual strength
of the Confederate armies in 1862, 1867
and 1864. This correspondent says that
he has compiled his tabular statistics
from the muster. rolls Of the severa
Confederate military departments, cap
tured at the downfall Of the Confederacy
and which are very nearly complete
for almost every month from the summer
of 1861 down to the epring of 1865. y
Where documentary evidence Of this
sort is wanting, he processes to supply
the deficiency with almost equal exacti-
letter, not before published, from Gen.
Joseph Il. Johnston, giving the effective
strength Of the army in Northern Vir-
ginis under his command from Septem
ber, 1861 to the battles of Fair Oaks
and Seven Pines, May 81, 1862
The Tribune editorially affirms the
authenticity of its correspondent ab.
stract, saying We are confident that
all the rebel officers, from Lee downward,
could not furnish 90 complete an account
Of the strength of their armies And
we think that no captured documents, as
yet unarranged, can add anything mate
rial to this statement" The figures here
given will astonish those who took their
ideas Of the numbers of Confederate SOL
diers engaged iu the critical battles Of
the war from popular estimates prevailing
on either side Nor are theyikelyto lessen
the force of an old proverb which used
to refer to war bulletins as the synonym
ef mendsoity. According to these
figures, the greatest number at any time
on the lConfederate muster rolls was
in the summer of 1864, when it reached
$4,000. But the number present for
duty was only 1000 The greatest
number present for duty was in tho spring
of 1868, when it attained the point Of
2Sl, ,O00 At no time we're all the Con-
federate commanders of the armies Of
the East and of the West, including tho
trans Mississippi department, able to put
in active campaign as many as 300, 900
men of all arms. The enormous disparity
between the enrolled aggregate and the
effective force in 1864 tells its own bitter
story. The $4,000, unfit for duty or
absent, we're mainly the product OF a
conscription which was characterized in
the strong language Of the day as rob
bng the cradle and grave" This enor-
nous proportion of inefiiciency signifed
the fatal progress of both physical and
moral exhaustion. This was the result
for the most part of the tremendous
struggles of the preceding year, which
had their climax in Gettysburg and
Vicksburg
The Tribune, referring to the strength
of Gen. Lee army, very reasonably OBJ
serves that "a study of these reports,
compared with the known strength of
the Union army of the Potomac, will
furnish materials for more severe criti-
cism on the conduct of the war in this
department, and the military merits Of
different commanders, than any man has
yet dared to write" For at no time did
the effective force of Gen. Lees army
exceed 100000, and the average Of that
force was less than 10000. 1t is shown
that Gen. Mcclellan declined to advance
on Manassas in the fall of 1851, when he
had but 40, 600 before him to oppose his
l47, 900; and when be advanced against
Richmond from the Peninsula with no.
600, Gen. Lee had to defend that city
with only 10000 II appears also that,
on his return TO Virginia after the battle
Of Gettysburg, Gen. Lee checked the
advance Of Meade st the head Of $4,000
with only Al 900, and subsequently, with
45, 600, drove the latter back almost
within sight Of Washington. When, in
the spring Of 1864, Gen. Grant opened
his campaign against Richmond, his
army was admitted to be the largest
which had ever set out from the Potomac,
and could not have been less, conse-
quently, than 10000. Gen Lee at The
same time had bat 81, 600.
The correspondent commentary on
the figures advertsd to concludes in these
impressive words:
I'VE judge that in al COO, 900 different
men we're ia the Conisderate ranks
during the war OF these we do not be-
lieve one half are alive this day. Once
in the ranks there was no escape except
By death, diaablement from wounds or
sickness or deseriion- OF the 900, 900 Of
the Confederate soldiers yet slive, no
man can say what proportions are wholly
or in great pari disabled By wounds or
disease; but it is safe to say that in three
years the South lost by the war alone
fully one-third Of its able-bodied white
male population A great part Of the
accumulated wealth Of the people was
swept away not merely changing from
one hand to another, and 80 in the natu-
raj course Of things certain TO be redis-
but absolutely anuihilaied.