Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-12-02

/ ehhC asAA1y vi buC luAtCi W % u t4AlCe AC-
stroyed; and Il, according to Grants fa-
nous remark, Butler had got himself into
"a bottle strongly corked," the former, to
use one of Mr.. Lincoln's elegant express
sions, had ssbutted his brains out against
| gate post" Perhaps it was fortunate
for Grant that Butler was Dramatically
sealed up at Bermuda Hundred" when
he, too, was compe led to seek refuge at
the same point and wait for further rein
forcements.
Having disposed of Gen. Badesu's
statement of Grants force, / viii
now consider his estimate of the strength
of Gen. Lees army.
A strange hallucination in regard to
the strength of all the Confederate armies
seems to have haunted the Federal com
manders from the beginning of the war
TO its close. According to their estimates
there were few occasions on which they
| were not outnumbered, and this hallu-
| cinstion seems to have beset Gen. Nc
Clellan with peculiar viyidness during his
whole military career.
The absurdity of the Federal estimates
| Of our strength, at various times, viii be
| apparent from the following statistics
1 taken from the official census of 1860, as
| published by the United States govern
| ment: In the fourteen States from which
came any part of the armies of the Con-
| federate States, including Maryland, KEN
lucky and Missouri, there was a white
population of only z, GAG, Ill, of which
an aggregate of 2,49S, S91 was in the
said States of Maryland, Kentucky and
Missouri, leaving only 5,447, 220 in the
remainder of the Southern States, while
there was q white population of 19,0l1,-
800 in the States and Territories indis-
putably under the control of and in SYM
pathy with the United States government
from the beginning, exclusive OF Mary
land, Kentucky and Missouri. The strong
hand of the military power was put upon
Maryland in the very outset, by which
her voice was suppressed before there
was an opportunity of giving expression
to il. That State furnished to the Con-
federate army only one organized regi-
ment of infantry for one year, and sever
al companies of artillery and cavalry
which served through the whole war,
while it furnished q considerable force,
by voluntary enlistment and under the
draft, to the United States army.
Kentucky undertook to assume
neutral position in the
beginning, and by this means was soon
brought under the control of Federal
bayonets, and subsequently furnished
much larger force to the United States
army than she did to the Confederate
army. Missouri was in the outset taken
possession of by military force, and her
regular government was overturned and
its officers driven out of the State. She
furnished also o much larger force to the
United States army than to the Confeder-
ate army. In fact from their passage,
the United States laws upon the subject
of the draft were in full force in these
three States, during the whole war, while
the Confederate conscrIpt act was never
in force in either of them for moment.
In addition to this, the greater part of
that portion of Virginia now called the
State of ''West Virginia" was disaffected
from the beginning to the Confederate
cause, and was very soon oyerrun and
held by the United States forces. A large
portion of East Tennessee was also disaf
fected, and at no time did the white popu-
lation, from which the Confederate States
had alone to draw their troops, exceed
5000, 600, while the white population in
its own limits, from which the United
States government drew its troops, ex-
ceeded considerably 100000. In sd-
dition to this, by large bounties,
it was enabled to draw very
largely upon the population of other
countries on this continent and in Eus |
rope, and it also obtained large number |
of troops from among the slaves and
free negroes of the South, and from the |
disaffected of those regions which were |
overrun by its armies. These facts, taken |
in connection with the further fact that |
the latter government entered the con- |
test with all the prestige attached to it as |
a well-established and recognized power, /
an organized army and navy, possession |
of the seas and the seaboard, and unlimi- |
ted resources of money and the materials |
of war, while the Confederate govern |
ment had in the outset to organize all its /
departments and its armies for the con-
flict, and was in great measure destitute |
of arms, of a revenue, and of the mate
rails of war, demonstrate the utter alb 1
surdity of the idea that the latter govern
ment was, at any time, able to oppose to
the main armies of its antagonist any
thing like equal numbers To suppose
that it was able, at so late period as |
May, 1864, when so much of its territory |
was in the possession of its enemy, to op-
pose to the principal army of the United |
States under the command of its chosen
Commander Chief, at a point so near |
the Capitol of that government, an army |
so nearly spproximating in numbers the |
former, as stated by Gen. Badeau, would |
argue degree of energy and efficiency |
on the part of the Confederate govern
ment and of imbecility on the part of the |
United States government utterly uDpar- |
alleled in the history of nations.
Gen. Badeau, in the first paragraph of |
his let er, says: 'Myprincipal authority |
for the proposed corrections is that of |
Gen. Lee himself" If he means by this |
that Gen. Lee in person gave him the in |
formation upon which he makes his state |
ments, then Gen. Lee has given to Gen. |
Badeau information which he has not only 1
withheld from al his most intimate as |
sociates and friends, and the comrades |
who followed him so long, but which is |
entirely at war with his uniform state |
ments in writings and conversation to |
those in whom he was accustomed to COZ |
fide. If he means that he has any written |
statements or acknowledgements of Gen |
Lee, then he is challenged to produce the |
documents in Gen. Lees handwriting |
The word of that gallant gentleman and
Christian hero, to those who knew him, |
is as indisputable as Holy Writ and he |
has invariably asserted, up to the time of |
his lamented death, that the force with |
which he encountered and fought Grant |
in the wilderness was under 80, men, |
including all that Longstreet had brought |
up. In letter from him which / have, |
and which was written on the 18th of |
March 1856, he says: '1t will be diff
cult to get the world to understand the
odds against which we fought" and he |
has since in person assured me that the |
estimate had made of his force, in a
published letter from Havana in Dec. 1865, |
and in my published account of my own
operations for the years 18645,-which |
was 90, 000-exceeded the actual efficient |
strength Of his army.
The returns of the Army of Northern |
Virginia which are in what is called the |
"Archive Office" at Washington, are not |
accessible to me; but i have a printed |
copy of letter written to the New York |
Tribune in June, 1867, which gives stats
ments taken from the returns of the Con-
federate armies on file in said "Archive
Office" which letter is understood to have
been written by Mr.. Swinton, the author
of "The Campaigns of the Army of the
Potomac" send that copy to you, in
order that you may verify, by an exsmi-
nation of 1t, all my statements; and, if 1
appear little prolix and tedious, beg
you to be patient as desire to show 10
you and your readers how officers Of the
IIniled States army manufacture histnr1r