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

Now is it not apparent that this return
for March, 1854, of the "Army of East
Tennessee" showing IS, 387 present for
duty, being the identical number claimed
as the strength of Longstreet's Corps, is
the very same return "of date nearest to
the battle which Gen. Badeau attempts
to palm off on the British public as the
return of that CORPSE If he ever saw the
actual returns, and was not using mere
extract from them, he must have learned
that the two divisions of LoDgstreet's
corps, which were with him in East Ten
nessee, constituted less than half of the
s'Army of East Tennessee, the residue
being COMPOSED in part of division of
infantry which afterwards, under Brock
inridge, met and defeated Sigel on
the 18th of May in the Valley, and a
body of cavalry, portion of which sub
sequently, under VIM. E Jones, fought
Hunter at New Hope or Piedmont, in the
Valley; and none of which troops ac-
companied LongstTeet on his return to
the Army of Northern Virginia.
After the discovery of this palpable at
tempt at imposition, is it necessary to no.
tice any further the statements of Gen.
Bsdeau? will, however, state that the
first reinforcements received by Gen. Lee,
after the beginning of the campaign in
the Wilderness, were received at or near
Hanover Junction, On the 22d of May,
when he was Joined by one of the brig
AIDES of my division, just returned from
North Carolina, numbering less than 1000
men; force under Breckenridge from the
Valley, numbering less than 5000 mus
kets; and Pickutt's division of Long
streets corps, recently returned from
North Carolina, and which, with my
brigade, had been engaged, under Beaure-
gard, against Butler on the south side of
James river. These troops did not make
up the losses at the Wilderness and Spot
sylvsnia G. H., and in the meantime Grant
had received considerably more than 49,
600 reinforcements from Washington and
Baltimore for his army.
In regard to the strength of Gen. Lees
army at the time of the evacuation of
the works covering Richmond and Pc
tersburg, and of the surrender of Apo
mattox, it is only necessary to say that
the returns for February, 1865, for the
Department of Northern Virginia, afford
no Just criterion of the real strength of
that army, as those returns included the
forces in the valley, and other outlying
commands, not available for duty on the
Zines. Detachments for the defence of
V lmington had been made during the
winter, and Gen. Lees army was, at the
time of the evacuation, the mere skeleton
of what it had been, and its supplies and
means were exhausted. Again all the
energies of the United States Government
had been put forth, and Grant was at
the head of an overpowering army,
thoroughly equipped and appointed in
every respect, and with the most
abundant supplies of all kinds Yet, Gen.
Lee conducted his retreat in the face of
his enemy, and over roads almost impas-
sable, for more than one hundred miles,
and finally surrendered less than 5000
men with arms in their hands. 1t is true
that %, sos men of his army were pa
rolled, BIT the greater part or them were
stragglers without arms, whose commands
had been cut up in detail, teamsters,
camp-followers, and extra duty men; and
we fail to see in the statement Of paroled
men contained in MIR. Stanton's report,
on page A, the items of thousands also
belonging to Lees army" who Gen.
Bsdeau says afterwards came in and gave
themselves up. Mr.. Stanton in fact
shows only ia, 223 men who surrendered
and were paroled at the close of hostilities
in all the Confederate States
Mr.. Stanton, on page 30 of his report,
shows that there were 1856, 553 men put
into the United States service during the
war, by calls on the States-,hat is, more
than one half of the number of the entire
white population, young and old, male
and female, 10 which the Confederate
States had to resort for soldiers, while the
author of the letter to the Tribune states
that he judges, Qrom the returns pre-
sumo, that 600, 900 in all were put into
the Confederate service during the same
period-that is, less than the available
force present for duty in the United States
army on the LIST of May, 1864, and at the
close of tie war. This estimate is very
nearly correct and fully covers our whole
strength from fret to last. Is anything