The Hillsborough recorder., 1872-12-25

81 various points. especially 10 thu
Etellty nd Western Virginia. Gen. Lee
S(nasa y tks writer siDes the War that ths
ten sith which be loit the Rappahannock
II Jups. 1868. was something but moi
Enush under so. 000men. This agrccs with
~ aboys rcport, for 5000 or 5000 Ireu
III snail sslimsts Of ths troops not with
~ main army issa yet inclsded in the De
kpurtuspt Of Northern virginisr'
Again; dss. Lees army at the time
ISpstionsd ccnsistcd cf three ecrps Of in
pfsy 6suias srtillcrysnd cavalry. The
ery ~ &itidcd into three corps In Nay.
- lssm1enet. nssll and Hin esansnd-
ly03l1Ng. Sty~6tf me- difr vsryvs1st
y Ia strength. Ny position in tie army
Of that tilrc made il riy duty to know the
strength Of Ewell's corps. Il contained
thsn fifteen thousand aud few hundred
muskets. | think Longstrcet and Hill
were somewhat stronger. but the difference
Vas. ss ADORE stated. slight. Tho Comic
!cderatc infantry did rot exceed j0.00u
men. aud the l:lo$t liberal estimates for the
cavalry aud artillery would not bring the
cniiro force to $4,000 mcn. Gen. Ice re-
cciycd no rcin!orcemcnts after leaving the
RsppahaDnock. except small f1rce which
had tecn picketing in the lower Shsnun.
doah vul!cy while Stuart had severe fight,
at Brandy Station and Mi,ldleburg on our
way North. and Ewell broke up Milroy at
wincester aud captercd large part u bis
forco. These operations. with the guard.
ing Of the prisoners, took uf from the Con-
fsdcrstes ut least f.50O or 1000 men; so
that General Lee could no. have Lad more
than from j.OO5 to 5S, 900 men ON the
Geld at Gettysburg,
As 70 his losses: Ewcll's corps reported
the Gay after II rccrcssci the Potomac over
nloyen thousard muskcts. The o,her corps
sraerod moro heavily. aud the estimate Of
the entire loss made at the time ut General
Lees hcadqusrtcrs from tho reports Of the
corra was from la.00D to $4,000 men.
With this tallics pretty we'll the return for
July. given 10 tie rapcr ia the Historical
Magazine. II gives ~. .t3j AZ the number
Of troops then in the Department Of North
cn Virginia. gy comparing this return.
however. with those from the Department
Of Richmond II is most probable that q
body Of some 7.uu0 troops bad been trans
ferred to the latter department from the
Former. ihis leaves about 20. 900 men as
Ter l,c-'s er.itu lc--ss frv-s e~e-y eans-
between May aud July.
Many of our own people do not know
hcv near Gcneral Lee. in spite Of tho odds
sgaiast him. came to success ut Gettysburg.
General Butterhe.d testiles under oath.
that on the morning Of July 2i 1.-THE second
day Of the battle General Meade directed
him TO prepare an order to Withdraw the
army from that position / and that conn
Gil of war was assembling TO consider this
order when the secord days battle began.
and broke t'up. After this days fght
vmr sr the council was held. and the pro-
Pisty Of still holding the position discuss-
ID. A majority voted ia favor Of uill
holding on. General Buttericld testifes
hat After the council had finished, Gene
nI Meade src~s frum the table and re-
nssksd that. ia his opinion. Gsttysburg
vas no rlscs to 6ght . battle On the
aikkt Of July 9Th, the day after the bstsls
had closed. another council Of war was held.
CeFtsin qasssions we're prcpoundcd BY Gen.
Nesde 70 this council, tive Of which usrc:
I. Shall this army remain hcreg 2. If
~. remain hare shall no assume tho oIIsn-
dvsr The hnt Of these questions was
decided in the affirmative by vots Of
nvs 70 three ihoso in the affirmative voting
= remain sntiI thoy cosld coo what the
enswy Vas doing. Tho second question
Va decided 10 the negative BY unanimous
vote.
4 These are few Of the facts about Get
tysburs. IN rsgrd to no battle Of tho var
hass Nortbsrn writc1 done more to cover
up The truth than about this ons.
Yours, DC.
w. ALLAN.
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