The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-12-11
FOUR YEARS OF FIGHTING
AGAINST IMMENSE ODDS
'Fiad We Had Your Generals Said a Member of
Shermans Army, WED Have Whipped You
in Six Months


.ngs of the two Sections was indeed
most marvellous. The North ought 10
have been able TO end the war either
the first year or earlier. What pre-
vented it? Nothing but the superior
generalship and the fighting QUALITIES
of the Southern soldiers memoef OF
n company of Sherman's Nanqdlle
army said this to me in the presence
of that great physician-the great
estI ever beheld.-Dr. William l;
Howard, Afterwards professor1m the
University OF Maryland. 1,aItflIiofe ~
May. 1865, in Warenton, \. g; II
we had had your generals we would
have whipped you and ended the WaH
i'm six months. General Johnston never
did know how terribly he punished us
in his retreat, in Georgia, nor how
many of our soldiers he killed.
| have had for years some inStruc-
tive figures as to the strength Of the
two armies in several important bat
Ties of the war. They were furnished
ME by some close student of army
statistics no doubt. but | do not know
the handwriting nor the name of the
writer now. Unless they came from
my friend Capt. William Il. Bond, of
Scotland Neck, Halifax county, author
of that most important book, Pickett
or Pettigrcw, L cam not guess to
whom / am indebted for them. l was
papers that long since were gathered
when l found the manuscript | use
the figures, and / take it they are ac-
curate.
In the Seven Days Battles General
Lee had little moresthan $4,000 men
of all arms-the exact figures $685.
In the Federal army McClelland had
10000 men given in his reports of all
arms-this at the beginning of the bat
Ties.
At Sharpsburg COR Antietam as the
Federals call it,, Lee had as follows:
Infantry $3.50, cavalry ana artillery
5000; total 50, 255. General ID. fl. Hill
and others. say less than that--not
more than 80, 900, | add.
The Fcdcrals had, as Mcclellan
gives his effective strength in action
-S7,164 of all arms, or about , ~
times more than Lee had.
At Fredericksburg Lee had 1S.22S
men of all arms. but only 10000 We're
actually engaged. The Federals had a
great army. Gen. Burnside. in his
testimony before the Committee on
the Conduct of the War, said that he
had 100000 men on 1.-The other side
of the river. all of whom were actu-
ally engaged He does not state how
many manned the batteries on Stafford
heights or were held in reserve a
considerable force. however. without
doubt.
At Charlottesville, Lee had 81, ZIP
men of all arms. The Federals had
131, 661 of all arms according to their
own official reports.
At Gettysburg, Gen. Lee had CO..
600 of all arms. The FederalS had
over 1900 according TO their ofticia
reports.
In the Wilderness ca mpaign, Lee
had at the beginning 50. 629 of all
g. Il
"A, 400 before Cold Harbor. The Fed
erals had 141,100 at the beginning,
and were reinforced to 1872 100 before
the battle of Cold Harbor.
AT Winchester (Sept. 49,, Gen.
Early's forces were 1900 of all arms.
of which but $500 We're infantry. The
Federals had $1,000 composed of 3d.
600 infantry; 1o,100 cavalry, and 5000
artillery or more than four times the
number of Early's force. In his
Memoirs Gen. Early shows fromeof-
fetal sources. that Sheridan had at
least $1,000 men of all arms. But
recent access to Sheridan's field re-
turns reveals that he had more than
Early credited him with, and that it
reached nearly the 10000 figures, and
these were on the field. In studying
the battles of the great war you must
look sharply at the reiatlVe strength OF
the Federals in the battles IL yoN
would appreciate properly the daring,
fortitude and courage OF the Confed-
crates who We're almost always hight
ing against great odds. Wythes most
carefully prepared Life of Forrest
is an eye-opener in this direction. and
shows that i'm the battles south of the
Carolnas and Virginia the disparity
in numbers was indeed immense. But
even numbers alone will not bring out
fully the great disadvantages and dis
parity in strength of the South as
compared with the Yankee armies.
In all estimates of relative strength
there should be taken into consider
alton in. the account the superior arms
of the Federals. the ammunition.
transportation, eaui ment, telegraph
facilities pioneer corps. implements
for constructing breastworks, pom
tOonS rationS, ETC.. ETC., which added
to their overwhelming numbers. and
also to their Overwhelming resources.
1t was not only the greatest war of
modern times but was also. with
hardly an exception in modern history
Waged with greater disparity in ac-
tual numbers and resources on the
part of the South than any other war.
When the true history of the war is
finally written it will show to the edu-
Gated part of the world. the vast SUI
periority of the South as heroic. en-
during and invincible, and it was only
when the long four years of war.
marked by hundreds of battles, had
so depleted its armies as to make ii
possible for the North to triumph.
The South at the start had less than
z 900. 900 of whites. while the North
had 21.O0O000 with all Euro~e ana
n part of Africa to recruit from.
Study the actual figures in al the
chief battles if you would see the easy
of the Southern soldiers as
fighters There were actually GS0,917
foreigners and negroes i'm the Federal
army. divided as follows: Negroes
1S6.017; foreigners 494.90W< total
680,917 In all the Federals had p
T7S,304 men enrolled for military ser
vice. Adjutant- Samuel Coop
er said the South had 100000 If
there had been more the armies would
have been larger. At the close of the
var the strength of the Federal army
was 1,00n;6-.:,
Strength OF the Confederate army
Federal excess was 726,576.
The Federal army In 1855 exceeded |
the entire enrolment Of the Confeder-
ates in four years by 10000 by Gen.
Cooper's count or 40.s7s assgiyen in !
the Confederate Hand Book. Much |
of the above is of course by PIE.
n