Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-08-17
General Early rs. Writera q HIstorr.

Gen. Jubal A. Early, whose pen in
time of peace is as trenchant as was his
sword in war, has lately fallen foul of q
writer in the Washington National Re-
publican, who, in writing an account Of
that Generals demonstration toward
Washington city in July, 1854, commit
ted the indiscretion OF drawing his esti-
mates of the relative numbers of the
armies opposed to each other on that oc-
casion from hearsay and reports of Fede-
raj Generals, rather than from the rolls
and returns preserved in the archIve
office. The General begins his de-
tailed and interesting account of
his appearance before Washington.
his object in approaching it, and
ms reason for not assaulting it, with the
following caustic prologue: ''That
writers on the Federal side in the late
war between the States should continue
to magnify the numbers in the Confed-
crate armies on all occasions is perhaps
natural, as in this they but follow the ex-
ample of their commanding Generals.
They cannot conceive how it was posi-
bic that Confederate leaders should have
undertaken to confront the immense
numbers of the United States armies
with such slender forces as they in fact
commanded, and it may be observed
that the very highest eulogies on the
prowess of our armies are to be found in
these persistent exaggerations of our
strength by our adversaries."
AS Gen. Early's main design is to cor
rect the errors into which the RepublS-
cans writer fell, he quotes from the
Confederate returns in the archive Office
to show that the force of infantry with
which he marched from Monocacy to
Washington ''did not exceed s, 900 mus
kets, if it reached that NUMBER" that
the artillery numbered but forty pieces,
and that much of his cavalry with some
artillery was not present, being detached
at Frederick to operate in the direction
of Baltimore; but, all told, his cavalry
and artillery together did not exceed
5000. He aims to show thus that, say
IL, 900 is liberal estimate for his whole
force in Maryland, officers and men, and
administers severe castigation to
the ehistoriographer who asserts on worth
less data that he had $4,000 men, while
some estimate their number at DO, 900.
Having been thus wide of the truth in
the matter of the Confederate strength,
the same writer goes on to place the de-
fense of Washington in the hands of not
over 5000 men. But General Early pro-
ceeds to show by extracts from state
ments of General Barnard, who had
charge of the defenses around Washing
ton, that on the 10th of July, the day be-
fore his arrival, there were within Its
defenses and in adjacent camps 20,530
electives. General Early quotes from
General Grants report OF 22d of July,
1864, to show that General Wright
reached Washington with two di.
visions of the Sixth corps and
the advance of the Nineteenth
before him." Early) These, 1000 in
number, being in addition to the 20, $50
electives before mentioned. They
reached Washington on the same day
Early did, and in the face of so large a
force the latter thought it prudent to
retire. To the charge that he burned
Montgomery Blair's house he opposes a
denial, and cites his burning of Cham
bersburg as can act of retaliation for
some burning that Gen. Hunter had done
within the limits of my command" In
closing, the General predicts that "when
the intelligent men of the North shall so
far discard the prejudices of the past as
to be able to give careful and dispas-
sionate consideration to the facts, it is
not improbable they will dis
cover that they have magnifed into he
rOes of the highest order some whose
statures will dwindle into very insignifl-
cant proportionsi before the light of
truth"