The National tribune., 1902-09-11

Total infantry ard dGrtlllery..-........... S3,gt
Total strength of Lavairy Corps. ........ 1880,
Grand total of Army of the Potomac. 94,70.
1t is an easy matter to verify these fig
ures. They are of record in the War De
partment of the United States. We know
to a certainty the strength of the Army
of the Potomac.
In making his arrangements for the in
vasion of Pennsylvania in the Spring of
1863, Gen. Lee made every effort in his
power to enable him to lead an invinci-
BILE army to victory. He did not invade
the North to be beaten in his first battle
are absolutely certain about that.
On May 30. Lee issued an order reor-
ganizing his army, which at that time con-
sisted of two corps, commanded by Long
street and Hill, respectively. According
to his field returns of May 81 (the last
field returns of record from / .e's army
previous to the battle of Gettysburg the
total strength of these two corps was as
follows, viz;
Longstreet's Corps ............... 80, 732
Hills Corps ................... .32, ,5SS
Total Infantry and Artillery. :. =. 81, 800
Stuart's Cavalry Corps . s!'...... 10, ,292
Total strength of Lees Amy May
IL .......... ....... ...i :. 1882
To these two corps Gen. Ice added n
third-Ewell's, not for the purpose Of hav-
ing three corps in his army instead Of two,
just for buncomb. Oh, no.; Lee was not
built that way; he reorganized his army
into three corps for the purpose of adding
to its numerical strength and he then and
there added every man that: the Confed-
crate Government would give him, and the
nnf fnln ola al
that could be obtained. Lee was about to
undertake a great enterprise-nothing less
than the invasion of the North, which he
hoped and the Confederatei Government
confidently expected wopld result in vic
tory and the acknowledgment of the in
dependence of the Copfederaey by the
nations of Europe. Is ityat.all reasonable
to suppose that Lee would undertake such
Ii stupendous work without first obtain
ing what he, considered adequate rein
forcements? 1t is fair to presume that
in adding to his army a third corps he
thereby and at the same time added to
the strength of his army in the same pro-
portion. This would give him 94,9S0 in
fantry and artillery. which, with the cav
airy he already had, swelled his army to
the grand aggregate Of 105,272 men of all
arms. Whatever the full strength of
Lees army may have been, Lee himself
was extremely careful that the world
should not know what it das, and to this
day it remains a sealed book. Still, we do
know of certainty that the corps, divi-
sions and brigades of Lees army as reor-
ganized for the Gettysburg campaign were
each and all stronger than the correspond
ing organizations in the Army of the Po-
tomac. While Lees army was composed
OF three corps, ours was composed of
seven corps. While Lees army had 80
infantry brigades, the Army of the Po-
tomac had So.
These facts present the opportunity of
making q comparative estimate of Lees
army that cannot be far from correct. In
our army we had so infantry brigades and
n total strength of 77,20S infantry. or an
average of 1,4S5 men to the brigade. In
Lees army there were 80 infantry bri-
gades, and as these brigades were all
numerically stronger than ours, we have
but to average them at 515 more to the
brigade, which is 1000 men to each, and
less than many of Lees brigades con-
tanned, and we find thereby Lees total
infantry strength to be $4,000.
We therefore conclude that the con-
tending armies. commanded respectively
by Gems. Meade and Lee, which strug-
gled and fought so heroically at Gettys-
burg in 1868, were numerically about
equal.
A PECULIAR FEATURE OF THE BATTLE.
Many people do not readily understand
why it was that in the concentration of
the opposing armies for battle. the Army
of Northern Virginia, commanded by Gen.
Lee, which was the army of invasion, ad-
vanced from the north toward Gettys-
burg, while the Army of the Potomac,
commanded by Gen. Meade, which was the
repellng army, moved up from the south
to meet and give it battle This can only
be explained by brief outline of the
previous movements Of the said armies.
Lees army crossed the Potomac River
into Maryland at Williamsport ON the Oath
and 25th days of June, 1868, with the
exception of his cavalry corps, under the
command Of Stuart. Lee had instructed
Stuart to cover his mOvftfiepts-to deceive
Hooker as long as possible with regard to
Lees whereabouts, and to prevent the
Army. of the Potomac from crossing the
river in pursuit. ''i.H
On crossing the Potomac, Lee imme-
diately concentrated his army at Hagers-
town, six miles north df TIE river and IA
miles southwest of Harrisburg, the capi-
tai of Pennsylvania, wfiiche city Lee pro
posed to make his first objective point
There was no army I'M hjs front, nothing
to interfere with his onward march, and
taking advantage Of tfiisl. to him, most
favorable situation, he i8st hot a moment,
but dashed through the Chmberland Val
ley, intending to raise alf the ready money
he could by assessing the towns along his
route, also to replenish his supply of mules
and draft horses from the farmers of that
| region, and on reachinEoahHo oSusquehanna
River, to cross the same and capture Har-
risburg. I'd
When Lee reached Marion Station, six
miles south of Chambersburg, he detached
and sent Early, with his division, east
wardly across the mountains by the Cham
bersburg Pike, into the Susquehanna Val
ley, with instructions to assess the cities
through which he might pass for all in
sight, and, finally, to cross the Susque-
hanna by the Columbia Bridge and reunite
with his main army at Harrisburg.
Early marched with great rapidity,
| reaching Gettysburg on the afternoon of
June 26, which town he assessed to the
tune Of $4,000, which little amount he
failed to collect. From this point Early
marched northeast on the York Pike to the
town Of York, where he succeeded in rails
ing some money, assessing that city at tho
snug sum of 100000. From York he