The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1875-02-10

LouisIana). These brlgades bad gone through
, very active and harassing campaign In the
Valley, Jaekson's having fought AT kernstowD,
Mcdowell, Middletown, Winchester, and
Port Republic, and EwelPs having fought
It Front Royal, MiddletoTn. Winche3.
Ter. Cross Keys, and Port Republic; sod all
Of them having done very rapid ana extern
live marching. To Jackson's three brigades
there were II Regiments and a battalion. ana
in EweIl's, including the Mary land regiment
there were 16 reeimentsand battalion, equiv
aIent in all to % regiments. Your estimate
would give an average of more than 2,oOo
to each brigade, and Of about $40 TO eacn
regiment. Can you think it possible thai
those brigades aud regiments could nave
that many in the field after the
service they had gone through? Longstreet
had six brigades in bis division, and they
had seen nothing like as. hard service as
Jackson,s and Ewelps; yet the report OF inc
strength of his six brigades, including DAT
terry of artillery with each, and the Washing
tor, Artillery, as furnished by General AeA,
ander, shows an effective force OF only 9'ool
on the Goth Of June, 1862. Let US see no"
the facts stand on the reports: W1rder, III
command of the Stonewall brigade, states
10 his report of Port Republic, that "tne
total strength of the brigade was one thou-
sand three hundred and thirty-iour, rank
and fle." There were tye regiments IN tnat
brigade, and only six and battalion IN Tue
other TIVE brigades ofthe division. The ioss
in the brigade was 1873 at Port Repuo-
lie. leaving only 1875 in it. That was
the largest brigade in Jackson's diVislon,
and, indeed, the other two were so small
that they were not carried into action around
Richmond, though present with the DIVISION.
In EwelPs division, Elzey's brigade num-
bered seven regiments. 1t had lost 243 be-
fore Malvern Hill, and when / took COM
mand of it on the 1st of July, near Malvern
Hill, there were only 1850 officers and men
in it, as reported to me by regimental COM
manders. One regiment (the Forty.fourth
Virginia) bad just A men present-the pre-
else number of tie regiment. Trimble's ana
Taylor,s brigades were smaller than ElZey>s,
having four regiments each and an extra bat
talon in TayIor's; though there is strange
inconsistency in General Trimble's reports,
which. doubtless, is the result Of an error in
copying or printing. In bis report of Cross
KEYS, page 80. volume l., he says: "My
three regiments, Fifteenth Alabama, Six
teenth Mississippi, and Twenty.frst Geor-
gia,1 counting 1,34S men and officers, re.
pulsed the brigade of Blenker three times"
His other regiment the Twenty-tirst North
Carolina) was not engaged, and his loss was
81. In his report of Cold Harbor, page 3l1,
he says: ,"Tbe Fifteenth Alabama and
Twentysfirst Georgia, numbering 1918
men, stood under destructive fire for an
hour or MORE" &c. and: ''The Sixteenth
Mississippi and Twenty.frst North Caro-
lima, numbering one thousand two hundred
and forty-four men. passed under as bot
fire An equal distance in fifteen minutes"
sc, If the statements in both reports be
true, then, without taking into consideration
the loss at Port Republic, there could only
have been thirty6ve men and officers in the
Sixteenth Mississippi, and there must have
been Que thousand two hundred and nine in
the Twcnty.tirst North Carolina, which
would be prepoSterOus. It is evidently Il
mistake. The latter statement would give
two thousand five hundred and fi'ty-nine in
his brigade, and yet when the Sixteenth
Mississippi (only thirty.fiveD was suisse
quently taken from him, one OF my regi-
ments was taken to supply its place, and
make his brigade something like equal to the
others, though the largest number l bud
been able to get together in my brigade was
about one thousand eight hundred. The
Second Virginia cavalry came with jackson,
and the fact is that the whole command that
came from the Valley, including the artil-
lery, the regiment of cavalry, and the Mary
land regiment and battery, then
known as the "Marylapd Line" could
not have exceeded eight thousand
men. With Writings two brigades, and Law.
toms brigade, which came with jackson, the
entire force of the latter may have been in
the neigh5orhood of 10000; but Writings
command constituted q part of the army
when you left it, and Lawton'S brigade has
already been counted with the troops brought
from the South. So that the whole force re.
caiyed by General Lee from all sources was
about 23,000-about 10000 less than your
estimate. ...2-'s
Now, let US see if we canno: arrive at q
true estimate of General Lees strength in
another way. Four of Longstree:'s brigade
commanders give their strength in their re-
ports, and Alexander gives the strength Of
the whole, including Walon's battalion Of
Washington artillery, at 9,051-AleXander's
statement corresponds precisely with those
of the brigade commanders who give their
strength, and be supplies the deficiency as TO
the other two and the Washington artillery.
General D. H. Hill says in his report, page
1877: "The following list of killed and
wounded will show that we lost 1000 out Of
10000 taken into the field" This includes
Ripley's brigade. -. ....
General Magruder says, on page 100: "I
was in command Of three divisions those
of Major General McLaws, Brigader. Gene
raj D. Il. Jones, and my own--each consist.
ing OF two brigades, the numerical strength
being about $4,000 men," General Holmes,
on page ISL, gives his strength of all arms at
6,573. This, OF course, is exclusive of Ran
som, who was with Huger. OF Huger'S di.
vision. Ransom gives his strength at 5000,
which, with the $50 previously lost, makes
$3.50. Malone puts his strength (pige 37l)
at 1890. Armistead only states his strength
partially, but shows that, after getting The
Fifty-seyenth Virginia from Walkers bril-
sade, his own brigade was very small.
Wright puts his strength at 1000 (page 1856.
Give Armistead 1000, which is q very
liberal estimate, and Huger's strength will
be $3.50. Of A. 2. HIPS division. Pen
der says (page 255) 1.-THE brigade left
camp on the evening of the, Goth with
between twenty-three and tWenty-four hum
dred, including Andre ws's battery" Archer
says, page 256: '' have the honor to report
that on the evening of the Goth of June, by d.
1rection of Major-General Hill, l marched my
brigade, 1928 strong, into. Mechanicsville."
The other brigade commanders do not give
their strength. Fields's brigade was small
one, Gregg's not large, and Anderson's and
Branch's were perhaps aboutthe size OF Pen
der's.~ Give the latter 900 each, and Field
and Gregg 1000 each, and We have for A. P.
Hips strength 12,62s-say $4,000. Lawton's
brigade was $500. Writings strengths not
given, but his brigades were smsll-give
1000 for each and then, with Jackson's and
Ewel's 5000, we will have, Longstreet,
9,05l; D. II. Hill, 10000; Magruder, $4,000 !;