New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-11-22
PROF. USHER CORRECTED
No Basis for His Assertion of Con.
federate Military Superiority.
To the Editor of The Tribune.

To the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir: In The Tribune of Sunday, November
7, you publish very prominently on the frss
page OF your Special Feature Section an arti
Gle by Professor Roland &. Usher, entitled,
as Adequate Preparedness Possible fo-
U. So"
I, as one identified with the Union Army
from the beginning of the Rebellion TO with
in a few weeks of its downfall am muchsn-
terested in the present question Of prepared
ness" since | am we'll aware of the fact that
had not John b. Floyd, Secretary Of War un-
der President Buchanan, transferred in 1850
all the arms and ammunition belonging to the
United States government from Northern 70
Southern depostaries the Union Army would
have bee1 prepared" at Bull Run, instead OF
entering that battle and meeting defeat be-
cause of German rifles and msit ammunition.
But when | read in the points Of the article
which The Tribune makes prominent that Pro-
fcssor Usher asserts Lees ragged veterans
proved themselves a better army than the
vastly better equipped Union troops did
not care to accept Professor Usher as authors
ty on preparedness" or any other subject.
Professor Roland G. Usher can End nowhere
oft-repeated fiction that Southern school his
tories have published for half century, that
"the Confederate army numbered from frs;
to last about 100000 men" II Professor
Usher had been a careful student Of the
things he poses as authority on ne wouid
have known that twenty years ago, III the
archives Of the state of North Carolina, was
found a roster of the troops sent from Norh
Carolina into the Confederate Army snow
| ing their number to have been $4,000 A
year later, in the cellar of the Capitol u
Nashville, was found the roster Of the troops
sent from Tennessee TO the Confederate Army
and their number was $4,000.
Evanss school History Of Georgia says
Georgia furnished about 125,000 men 70 the
Confederate Army" and then two pages fur
Their on repeats the old yarn, "The Con'ed-
crate Army numbered from first TO last about
600, 900 men,"
Did any of these perpetrators Of this story
Of 100000 men from first TO last ever pause
to think of how in its telling they bellttea
their own people? If the three states OF
Georgia. Tennessee and North Carolina tu,-
nished $4,000 men TO the Confederate Army
what cowardly lot of men must they nave
been who lived in the other eight states tha'
Joined the Southern Confederacy.
Conclusive evidence, oDLdlitA AANAA ft'~N7
data. now shows that the Confederate Army
numbered from first TO last not less than J.
40O,O 900 men, enlisted mind you. for the war
The Union Army had, If figured on that basis
less than 100000 men. The Union army
held the outside lines, and always had enc
mics in the rear which required part OF Us
force to look after.
Lees veterans" ultimately became rag
ged" because military skill and genius on
the part of commanders Of the Union army
and Navy and their advisers blockaded tner
ports and closed their lines OF communieS-
ton so that supplies were unobtainao!e.
With absolute knowledge to-day that 'ne
disparity between the Union and Confederae
forces in positive conflict was negligible, tha'
until the last year of the war the NUMBER
of troops engaged on either side IN ever!
battle was very nearly the same, where is tne
evidence that Lees ragged veterans proven
themselves a better army than the Vastly
better equipped Union troops?
If Professor Roland G. Usher's assertion
is true, that Lees army was better th~h
Grants army, and his inferential charge cor
rect that Lee was better general Una"
Grant and Johnston more able than Sherman
why did victory fail to perch on the banner
Of the Southern Confederacy. and why does
one flag to-day float over a common country
from ocean TO ocean and lakes 10 GulfF
II is high time that the sort Of bosh when
Professor Usher would pass along should
cease. We of the Union Army do not belt.
tie our one-time foes. They fought well ana
bravely. But no army on earth ever eh-
cellcd in bravery, in military ability or IN
achieved results the Union Army which de-
seated Lees veterans" and held the United
States as zone country and one people, under
one flag" ALBERT L. SHOLES
Flushing, L. J., Nov. 8. 1915.