The herald., 1895-12-26
TO THE EDITOR

Reply to Colonel Dunkeiberger's Criticism
Colonel Dunkelberger, in his reply to my
article, accepts my statements as to the
governmental action in regard to the ex-
change of prisoners, but he is thrown off
his balance at remark of mine in regard
to the forces on each side at the battle of
Gettysburg. 1t is on this expression he
wastes all his force; in this expression,
which we quote: "Was not this the day of
all the days in the year, when general, for
three days on inaccessible heights, with
$4,000 men had hardly held at bay an
! army of 65,OOO?" lies the substance of his
attack
Now, why did we use this expression, and
who was the author of it: We were argu-
ing that ''miltary necessity" had prevented
the exchange of one confederate soldier
for one union soldier, and that Gen. Grant
bad written to Gen. Butler, April LIST,
1864, mot to take any step by which an
other able-bodied man should be ex-
changed" and had said to Gen. Butler in
a letter of August 18th, 1854: "At this
particular time to release all rebel prison.
ers would insure Sherman's defeat and
would compromise our safety hsre." Qn
front of Petersburg.)
We wished to set forth that Lee, having
been defeated on the Sd with a loss of 12,-
227 prisoners, and as the government
knew that on the next day Vicksburg would
surrender with more than 10000 prison
ers, that 1t would be a good way of cele-
bratiDg the 4th day of July by at least ex-
changing their captures at Gettysburg
for an equal number of federal
prisoners, thus relieving them of the
foot sore, travel of hundreds of miles to
Libby prison. We here quote what we
said in our original article: "This mill.
tary necessity grew out of the fact that
whereas the south had enlisted in her
armies 100000 soldiers, the north had
only 2,77S,3O4 soldiers on her rolls"
And while we claimed from Vol. 4, page
667 "Battle and leaders," the following
statistics az the enlisments for the war,
viz:
Whites .....................24 SOP
Shliors ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 1OI,EO3
Negroes ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 17s.975
Total enlistment. .2.77S.304
Yet we are willing to give up the calcu Ia
tions OF the Battles and Leaders, though
they were the most accomplished men on
the editorial corps of the Century and both
federal soldiers.
Yet, discarding the learned and very
and Leaders, we are prepared to accept
the fact that Mr.. Lincoln called from the
different states 2,S59,049 soldiers and
2,656,353 responded and were sworn in.
In 1863 New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl-
vania, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana furnished
as emergency men'' 100000, which
should be added to the regular enlistment.
Accepting the figures of the adjutant-gen-
eral, viz. 1856, 1853, there were four fed
eral enlistments to each confederate.
Our reason for discarding the carefully
prepared statistics of the Battles and Lead
ers and accepting the official account of
the adjutant general Is because the strength
OF an army is always more correctly stated
by it's commanding general and officers
and its accepted historians than by the
enemy. And it is only fair that the official
reports of the officers on each side should
be conclusive as to the strength of the
army they represent. Guesswork will
carry with it no force.
General Meade, in his testimony before
the committee on the conduct of the war,
in giving statement in regard to the battle
OF Gettysburg, said: II had no informa-
that large force under General Lee, esti-
mated at about 10000. had passed
through Hagerstowr,' Part I, 1S64-5,
page 800. Report of Conduct of the War.
When General Meade was asked as to
the comparative strength of the two
to the confederates: II think General Lee
had about 10000 infantry, 1000 to 5000
artillery and about 10000 cavalry
Every intelligent man knows that the
strength of the confederates was always
overestimated. Comte de Paris, the author
of The Civil War in America, who was on
General McClellan's staff during the CAM
paign against Richmond, says on the sub
ject: "Since the ARMY of the Potomac
came into existence, there mas always been
disposition to overrate the enemy's num-
erical strength" (See letter OF Connie de
and 206, Southern Historical Papers, city
library.)
Mr.. Lincoln heard go much of this exag-
Reration of southern armies that he took it
OIL in one of his most pungent anecdotes.
An old gentleman and friend of Mr.. Lin
coin, from Illinois, who had a son in the
Army of the Potomac, called to have
friendly chat with the president. Feeling
great solicit,ide about the safety his boy,
he asked Mr. Lincoln how many men he
thought jeff Davis had in the field. Mr..
Lincoln, with twinkle in his eye, said:
jeff Davis has 100000 men in the
field" With despair on his face, he asked
Mr.. Lincoln how he knew this fact. Mr..
Lincoln replied, that every time one of his
generals got whipped down in Virginia, he
always said he had to fight three times his
own numbers. YES" said he, 81 have
i'ooO,Ooo ibeu Ill tile ueius anu Jol DaVlS
has 100000 in his army
After General Lee crossed the Potomac
General Hooker called continuously for
more troops from the war department,
claiming that Lee had more men than he
had. Driven to desperation he telegraphed
to General Halleck as follows, on June
~. 1898: "That there may be no mis-
understanding as to my force, l would re-
specially state that including 'Heintzle-
mans command and General Schenck's,
now with me, my whole force of enlisted
men for duty will not exceed lO5, 1000"
Report on conduct of war, part l, page
291. Here General Hooker wrote that he
knew better than any one else. and this
was only four days before the battle of
Gettysburg, and j. was based on the report
of his army. which would appear on June
80. That report is as follows:
Present for duty, officers. $500
lHeu..... 1871
Aggregate present .............117 $50
Note this telegram from General Hooker,
in which lie states his enlisted men as
los, 200.
After the report of June 3Oth was made
up, which showed as present for duty
1O4, 1856, Lockwood IL STANDARDS brigade
--5O0O-was added. These two brigades
were not included in The report of June
Both. This would make Meade's force
lO9,256, without including the IL 900 at
Harper's Ferry, and General Meade used
1000 of them to protect his rear and cut
Lees communication.
Comte de Paris, the titled historian of
HadnrnI a t,lo EoIo t.x