The National tribune., 1889-05-23
BELrEING HISTORY.

Henry W. Grady, of the Atlanta CgRstitR-
ton, viewing the GAR parade at the Cen
tennial celebration, wrote:
The North has more soldiers left than the South
had during the whole war.
This is an indirect reiteration of the old
rebel nonsense about the numerical inferi-
ority of the rebel armies. 1t viii not stand
an instant's examination in the light of
history. The population of the United
States in 1860 was 81. 443, 321. OF these over
one-third sided with the rebellion. There
were in the II seeding States-Alabama,
Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mis-
sissippi, North Corolina, South Carolina
Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. total pop
ulation of S,37G,069 In the border States
Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Mis-
souri-there was total population of $780,
961. If we assume that they were divided
equally in the support they gave the Union
and the rebellion, we will have to add
1.568, $50 to the above figures, which would
make the rebellious population 9,946,549-
100000 in round numbers. Deducting
this from the entire population of the United
States it would leave total Of q ,496, 772
on the side of the Union. But from this
should be deducted the population of Cali
fornia, Oregon, Nevada, and the Territories.
which took scarcely any part in the war.
The aggregate Of these was COS, 1913, which,
being subztracted, would leave the Union
population 2O.4g7,s79 or almost exactly
twice that OF the rebellious section. Now,
every man must admit that two TO one is a
small per cent Of advantage in waging
an offensive warfare against men standing
on their own ground, as the rebels were
No General would counsel attempting such
a thing without a much larger preponder-
anee Of force When the struggle came the
rebels put every white man in the South
capable Of bearing arms into the ranks, and
kept him there. while in the North the sol
dieTs could not have been missed Where
/ Let anyone say, could have come any such
overwhelming superiority Of force, such a,
the rebel writers and speakers are continu
ally prating of? OF the 100000, in rount
plumbers. in the South, 100000, in rount
numbers were whites, Of whom 3,500O0t
were males, and fully 100000 of these
or thrice as many as rere an The Union arm!
at any one tinle acere eirtually under arms ii
support of the rebellion, and obeying th
commands Of the rebel leaders. This is in
disputable. Until the very close of the wa
the chiefs of the Confederacy had NOR
fighting men at their disposal than wer
put in the field against them.
Mr.. Grady viii doubtless say that tn
above conclusions are incorrect, because
1. A large portion of the 100000 popu
lation Of the seeding States were negroes
who did not bear arms.
2. The Southern people were not united i
support of the rebellion, and large sections
as West Virginia and East Tennessee-actu
ally resisted the rebellion.
g. The Border States contributed more t
the Union armies than they did to the rebs
forces.
We say in reply:
/. That though 100000 of the 100000
in rebeldom were negroes they were as va
liable, in military sense, as if they ha
been whites, for they raised crops, furnishe
! supplies, built breastworks, drove teams an