TH E N U M E RI C A L
S T R EN G T H O F T H E
'
C O N F E D E RA T E A R MY
AN
E%
A M I NA T I O N
O F T HE H O N
.
AR GU ME N T
FRA N C I S
O F T HE
C HA R LE S
A D A M S A ND
O T HE R S
BY
RAND OL P H H
Lica i
La te
Virgin ia
.
.
M
CK
IM
,
D D
.
.
.
.
,
D C L
.
.
.
A D C 3 d B riga de A rmy of No rt h e rn
%
A u th o r of
A S o ldier : Ra o llc ctio m
a nd
i
.
.
.
.
n u m ero J ed
bella
vi rvida
c
e
u
n
o
e
e
—G
e
o
ou
E NE RA L
Virg il
ui rt z u
r
w i ll b d iffi c l t t g t t h w rld t
th
dds aga i s t wh i ch w f gh t
e o
LL D
'
Ex igu i
It
,
o un
d r t and
e s
.
R O B ERT
E LEE
.
NEW Y O R K
T HE N E A LE P U BLI S HI N G C O M P AN Y
.
Co
TH E
p y i gh t
P
N E A LE
r
,
1 9 1 2, by
U B LI S H I NG
C OM P A N Y
PREFACE
The distinguished soldier and crit i c w hose
name appe ars on the titl e page argues as do
vari ous other N o rt hern critics that the usual
Southern estimate o f the strength o f the Con fed
crate army i s too small by hal f Thi s conclusion
is supported they contend both by the census o f
1 86 0 acco rding to which there were at the very
beginning o f the war between th e States nearl y
a milli o n men in the Southern States o f military
age and by the number o f reg i m ents o f the sev
eral armie s as shown by the muster rolls o f the
Confederate army captured on Lee s re t rea t from
Ri chmond and now stored among the archives
in Washington This second line o f a rgument
has been developed am o ng others by two well
known military critics Colonel Wm F Fox i n
his monumental wo rk entitled R egim en tal L o s s es
”
in th e Civ il War
who
concludes
that
the
(
Southern Armies contained the equivalent o f 7 64
regiments o f ten companies each ) and by
Thomas L L ivermo re Colonel o f the 1 8 t h New
Hampshi re Volunteers in hi s laborious and pains
taking monograph
N umbers and L osses i n the
”
Civil War in America published i n 1 9 0 1
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
’
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
.
%
:
,
,
,
.
,
,
.
,
2 5 37 9 0
PREFA C E
Both these a u thors have had the advantage o f
studying t h e Muster Rolls o f the Confederate
army j ust alluded to but General Marcus J
Wright o f the Adj utant Gene ral s O ffice War
Depa rtment Washingt o n writes me that he
knows o f no S o uthern m an who has ever exam
in e d these Rolls although General T W Castle
man o f L ouisiana has recently received permis
sion to copy the Loui siana Rolls Colonel Wal
te r H Taylor o f General L ee s sta ff was als o pe r
m it t e d to examine some o f the o fficial returns o f
L ee s Army
Although the autho r o f t h e f o llow ing pages
has not had the opportunity of studying those
precious Muste r Rolls he hopes that he has been
abl e to show that the thesis maintained by th e
distingui shed critics j ust mentioned rests on no
su fficient foundation and ough t t o be rej ec t ed by
care f ul th i nkers
The main points o f my counter argument a re
these : I The lack o f a rms limiting the en rolment
o f soldiers the first yea r o f the war 2 The loss
o f one fourth o f our territo ry by the end o f the
first year 3 The loss o f control o f the trans
M issi ssipp i in 1 8 63 4 4 The eno rmous number
exempted from enrolment fo r every sort o f State
duty and fo r railr o ad s and n e w manu fact u ring
establishments mad e necessar y by the blockade
.
,
’
,
,
,
,
,
.
.
.
’
,
.
’
.
,
.
.
.
-
.
.
-
.
,
.
.
P R EFACE
o f o u r po rts 5 The opp o sit i on o f some o f t he
State governments to the execut i on o f the Con
script law 6 The compara ti ve failure o f the
Conscript law 7 The disloyalty o f a part o f our
p o pulation 8 The nece ss ity o f crea t ing not onl y
an army o f fighters but also an i ndustri al army
and an army o f civi l servants out o f the male
population lia b le fo r military duty
The characte r o f the ev i dence ava i lable p re
c lu de s a precise estimate o f the actual strengt h o f
th e Con federate army As C o lonel Walter H
Taylo r Lee s Adj utant Gene ral says i n a letter
add ressed to the author
I regret t o have t o say
that I know o f no reliable data in support o f any
precis e numbe r and have always realized that it
must ever be largely a matte r o f conj ecture on
”
ou r side
R H Mc K
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
,
,
.
.
.
’
,
,
,
,
.
.
.
.
NUM ERI CA L S TREN GTH O F TH E
C ON F EDERATE ARMY
TH E
Charles Franci s Adams holds a warm place
i n the hear t s o f the surv i vors o f the Army o f
Northern Vi rg i nia and indeed o f all the Con fed
e rat e Armies not only becaus e o f his splendi d t ri
but e to General Robert E L ee and to the arm y he
commanded but also b ecause o f hi s generous rec
ogniti o n o f the high motiv es o f the S outhern
peopl e i n the course they pursued in 1 8 6 1
It is there fore i n the friendliest spirit that I
undertake to quest i on the accuracy o f hi s concl u
sion as to the num er i cal strength o f the Sou t hern
forces engaged du ri ng the four years o f t he War
between the States In his recent volume
”
Studie s M ilitary and Diplomatic p 2 8 6 he
states that the actual enrollment o f the Confed
crate Army during the enti re four years o f the
con fl ict exceeded
rathe r than fell sho rt
”
o f that number
General Ad ams is o f the O pinion that it i s
a mistake to suppose that the Con federate
States were crushed by overwhelming resou rces
and numbers He calls attention t o the state
ment usually given by Southern writers that
,
,
,
,
.
,
.
,
.
,
.
,
%
.
.
,
9
TH E
10
fif
tiiii ERI CAL S TR EN GT H
'
‘
‘
the S outh had on he r muster r o lls from fir s t t o
last ab o ut
men and re f ers to this as
a legend ( p
opposed to all reasonable
assumption and unsupported by documentary evi
dence
based on assert ion only ( p
Hi s argument is chie fl y a pri o ri and p roceeds
substantially thus : The censu s o f 1 86 0 shows
there were upward o f
White people in
the States which subsequently seceded Thi s rep
resent s an arms bearing po pulat i on o f
men between e i ghteen and forty fi v e years o f age
To thi s he adds thi rty pe r cent for those males
between sixteen and eighteen y ears and be
tween forty fi ve and sixty years o f age
add ed by law s o he stat es to the militar y po pu
*
—
lation making
more
N ow further
add twelv e pe r c ent
or
for youths
reaching be t ween May 1 8 6 1 and May 1 8 6 5 the
age o f s ixt e en years and we have a to tal aggregate
Con fede rat e arms b earing population o f
From this total General Adams deducts
twent y per cent for exempts o f all classes
,
,
,
.
.
,
.
-
-
.
.
,
-
,
,
.
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
-
.
.
Ge n A dams
sa y s : C omp t a ti ons b ased on t h e c e nsu s
re t u rns te n d t o sho w t ha t a t t he ver y lowes t e s t i ma t e t he
i ncrease o f t i me o f m i l i t ar y s e rv i ce woul d represen t an i
crease f a t leas t 30 per c e n t i n e ffe c ti ves I d p 2 84
cr i t i c has mad e an e r ror here : 1 2 per cen t o f
TO
ie
s o t ha t h i s a ggre ga te s houl d be 1
.
u
n
”
o
.
ur
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
,
,
O F TH E C ONFEDER A TE A R M Y
1 1
There were then remain i ng a m i n i mum o f
e ffectives to which w e must add men
from the Bo rder States
giving a total
Con federate strength o f
He says
als o :
The whole male arms bearing population
”
was thus put in arms
N ow I wi sh on the very threshold to ackn o w l
edge freely that thi s conclusion i s not in the opin
i on o f General Adams discreditable to th e S o uth
but the reverse H e holds that the S outhern es ti
mate o f a total strength o f only
with the
Con federate colors i s discreditable to the spi rit
an d the patrio t ism o f our people In his opinion
a j ust apprec i ati o n o f the virtue and sel f s ac rifi c e
exhibited by the men o f the South should lead
us to accept the much higher estimate which he
gives not reluctantly b ut freely and cheerfully
H e thinks that we who contes t it place th e South
ern peopl e on a lower level o f d e votion than the
Boers o f S outh A frica
,
-
.
,
,
,
.
,
.
-
.
,
,
.
TH E CO M PA R I S ON
ET WEE N T H E
CO N FEDER A TE S
B
B
O ER S A N D T H E
He says at p 2 39 o f his M ilitary Stud i es
How was i t under very si m ilar ci rcumstances
with the S outh A fr i cans ? O n Con federate
the y are a b raver a mo re patrio t ic
S howing
,
,
.
,
,
THE N UM ER I CAL
12
s ac rific in
S T R EN GTH
3’
and sel f
H e g o es on to sho w
g race
that the Boe rs had i n actual se rvice mor e than
I i n 4 o f thei r po pulation ; while i f it be true that
there were only
S outhern soldiers in the
Con federacy there wa s only 1 out o f 1 2 at the
f ront This he thinks would be di screditable
to Con federate manhood ; he c ann o t believ e that
the S o uth e rners o f that period were a race o f such
”
mean spi rited stay at home skulkers
In an s wer t o thi s I shall undertake t o sho w
in the following p ages that M r Adams figures are
very wide o f the mark so that the proport ion o f
fighting men in the Confederate arm y was enor
m o u s ly greater than he ad m its i n thi s passage
not less than 1 in 6 o f the populat i on But
the fact i s that the condition s in the c ases o f
the Boers and the Con federates were about as
dissimil ar a s they well could be In the one case
there was a small compact population for the
most part hal f civiliz ed and occupying a territory
le s s than a qua rter o f that included in th e Con
fede racy They had no highly di ffe renti ated civ
I n t h e Con federa cy there
iliz at io n t o support
were eleven St ates each o f whi ch w a s organized
as a distinct gov ernment and each o f which re
quired a large numbe r o f men to fill its o ffices and
to maint ain its c i viliz ati o n L arge numbers o f
men were als o needed as I shall show fo r
-
'
,
,
.
,
,
-
-
-
,
.
’
.
,
,
.
.
.
,
,
,
.
.
,
.
,
,
OF
TH E
CO N FEDERATE A RMY
1
3
purpos es o f manu facture and t o supply the
army with food and munitions o f wa r To
comp are a small com m unity o f
Boe
rs
)
(
with a nation o f
whites besides
0 00 bl acks ; a pe rfect ly homogeneous people with
one containing divers elements ; a s em i civilized
peopl e with one whos e civili za tion was highly
di fferentiated ; a people a ccustomed to live o n the
vel dt in the saddle with one d w elling largely i n
towns and citi e s and engaged in d i versified oc en
i
n
a
t
o
s
i
s
to
make
a
comparison
i
llusory
i
n
a
p
high degree
In confirmation o f the p receding sta t em ent I
add the followi ng p assage f rom a let t er addr es se d
t o m e by my f riend Colonel Arche r Anderson
o f Ri chmond Va :
My argument was th at the compar is on of the
Con federates with th e Boers w as not fai r the
B oers being at a pri m itiv e stage o f civilization
a pa s toral and agricultural people with no ar t s no
culture and no wants be yond a bare subs i stence
Such a p eople can call out a large proportion o f
its popul ation and i n thei r case there was the p ar
t ic u lar advantage that through thei r relations to
the great mining region operated by foreigners
they had accumulated a va s t treasure and a great
stock o f European munitions o f war and for a
long perio d were a b le t o d raw what t he y fu rther
,
.
,
-
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
TH E
14
NUM ERI CA L STREN GTH
needed from Eur o pe th rough thei r rail w ay com
m u n ic at io n w i th the P o rtugues e port on D elago a
B ay Y o u hav e shown that the Co n federates on
the other hand were highly civiliz ed with na
t io n a
l Sta t e and munici p al i ns t i t u t i o ns to mai n
tain and be i ng cut o ff from supplies from the
outside world obliged t o ext emporize varied
manu factures o f powder cannon small arms
clothing shoes hats and every so rt o f mate rial
needed by thei r railway systems and thei r peopl e
at home as well as the arm i es i n the field The
maintenance o f civ i l gov ernment and such a task
o f p roduct i on over and above th e yield o f agric ul
ture req u i red the abstraction o f a va st number o f
”
men f rom military se rvice
It is i nstructive in con s idering this argument
to recall what a great h i storian tells us o f the
Helveti i in thei r contest w i th C aesa r He says
The whole populat i on o f the as sembled tribes
amounted t o
s o uls i ncluding women and
child ren : the number that bo re arms was
Mer
i
vale
Histo
r
y
o
f
th
e
Romans
vol
I
pp
(
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
-
,
,
,
.
,
,
.
,
,
.
,
,
,
2
,
.
,
.
42
H ere I S a real his t or i cal parallel b e t ween t w o
peoples at a not d i ssim i lar s t age o f c i v i liza ti on
Thei r num b ers were very nearly the same : in o n e
case
an d thei r
l n the o ther
figh ti ng s t r e ngt h w as a b o u t i n the same p r opor
.
OF TH E
‘
CONFEDERATE A R M Y
I
5
in
tio n
one i n four o f the populat i on ;
one case
in the other
It may be added that i f M r A dams i s r i gh t i n
estimat i ng the S outhern ar m ies at nearly
000 men then we face the remarkable f ac t tha t
a white populati on o f a lit t l e mo re than
peopl e sent t o the front almos t as many men as a
p o pulation o f ove r
Fo r Colonel
L ivermo re tells us there were
i nd i vi d
n als in t he United States army ; but o f these
were negroes
f o reigners and
from the S outhern states ; so that the
North only sent into the field
Judged then by the numerical standard th e
patriotism and devotion o f the S outhern people
accord i ng to this show i ng was to that o f the
N o rth as four to one An d thi s takes n o ac
count o f the many thousands wh o served the
S outh as mechanics la b orers e t c
I t s eems t o be overlooke d by G en e ral
,
.
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
.
,
F U N D A M E N T AL ERR O R IN T HE A R GU M E N T O F
N ORTH ER N WR I TER S
Adams Colonel L i vermo re and o t her per
sons in thei r estimates o f the population
available f o r m i l it ary purposes t ha t the Con
f e d era t e S t a t e s G ove rn m e nt h ad n o t o nl y
,
,
,
,
’
1
TH E
6
NUM ERI CA L S TREN GTH
to o rganiz e an army but also to establi sh ex t en
s ive man u facturing plants for t h e equipment o f
the army ; fo r clothing fo r harness fo r saddles
fo r guns powder and ordnance ; even fo r min
ing t h e o re which had t o b e worked up into i ron
fo r the Tredegar works and other s i m i lar pla nt s
wi thi n the limits o f t h e Confed e racy
Again a large contingent o f men had to b e re
t ain e d as railw ay servants and g o v ernment clerks
and for purpos es o f agri culture fo r it mus t be
remembered th at not one in t e n o f the soldiers i n
the Con federat e ar m y w as an owne r o f sl aves
and there fore a very large p ro po rt i on o f the agri
culture o f the country had t o be carried on by
whit e men It i s also overloo ked th at the com
plic ated machinery o f c i vilized govern ment h ad to
be maintained in el even S tates with the necess ary
o fficers and cl erk s pe rtaini n g t o t heir admini s tra
tio n
Thi
s
i
s
one
o
f
the
particulars
in
whi
ch
(
the case o f the Boer Republic di ffers s o radically
f rom that o f the S outhe rn Con federacy tha t the
compari son between the two i s q u ite illusory )
I f as General Adams insi sts
the whole male
”
arms bearing w as t h u s put in arms one can
not but wonder who did all these things j ust
?
enumerated
When thes e things are taken into cons i de ra
ti o n and the figures I shal l present are care
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
.
.
%
,
,
‘
-
,
,
TH E
18
N UM ERI CA L STRE N GTH
her isolated situation had to provi de t wo arm i es
an army o f fighters and an a rmy o f workers
He might hav e said s h e had to provide three
armies ; fo r besi des the 1n du st rial army and the
army o f soldiers she had to pr o vide an army o f
civi l servants t o man the o ffices necessa ry to
carry on n o t only the Con federat e States govern
ment but also the government o f el even separate
States with thei r highly di fferentiated organiza
tions
O ur author calls atte n ti on to the fac t that
the fight i ng army o f the South was larger
than that o f Imperial France Let me add
that even i f the Southe rn arm y num bered
no mo re than
men it was nearly
doubl e the army o f Imperial Rome in the reign
o f Augustus Radiating f rom the golden mile
stone in the f o rum to every point o f the compass
that vast emp i re extended fro m the Pillars o f
H ercules to the banks o f the Euphrat es and from
the coasts o f Britain to the borders o f the great
African desert It comprehended among its sub
j ects at le ast an hundred divers races numbering
people ; and yet the hi storian
about
tells us that the enti re armies o f the empi re ex
elusive o f s o me battalions mainta ined in Rome
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
.
,
,
.
,
,
.
,
,
S ee
I V, 2 98
Me riv ale s H i s t or y
’
and
343,
an d
V 386
.
o f t h e R omans
.
,
I I I , 41 6
,
an d
TH E C ON FEDERATE ARMY
OF
1
9
itsel f did not exceed
there being
at the time among the c i tiz ens exclusive o f the
males o f military age
s u bj ec ts
I have quoted Colonel Henderson s a d mi ring
comment on the size o f the army th e S outh was
able to put in the field In doing so I have not
forgotten that he estimates that army at
But hi s j udgmen t upon that point loses much o f
its weight when we obs erve that in two di stinct
passages in hi s L i f e o f S tonewall Jackson he gives
seven millions as the white populat i on o f the
S ou th instead o f five millions as it actually w as
Thi s error may serve to show how easy it i s for
a foreign critic to be mistaken upon a question o f
statisti cs Apart from the in fl uence upon hi s
j udgment o f his erro r as t o th e siz e o f the wh i te
population it is evi dent from the passage quoted
above that Hende rson included in the estimate o f
many thousands o f men detaile d fo r t he
*
various industries he enumerates
I submit then that these pr el i mina ry cons i dera
tions quite do away with the presumption that an
army o f only si x hundred thousand men serv ing
with the colors would have been unworthy o f
the dev otion o r t he patrioti sm o f the S outhern
*
I
t he firs t ed i t i on o f C ol H end e rson s work c i t e d
a b ove he ac t uall y s t a t ed t ha t t he elemen t o f f ore igners i n
t h e S ou t hern arm i e s was almos t as larg e as i n t h e N o rt h e rn
arm i es %
,
,
.
,
’
.
,
.
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
n
,
’
.
,
TH E
20
NUM ERI CA L STREN GTH
p eopl e o r inadequate t o what m i ght hav e been
expe cted o f a nati o n o f fiv e millions o f white s
In other words we enter upon our argument
without any reasonabl e presumpti o n against the
conclusion which it i s our purpose t o defend
Whoeve r will fairly c o nsider that t h e South had
to provide out o f he r indigenous male po pulation
o f military age a fighting army an industrial
army and an army of civil servants will not be
surpri sed i f i t shall appear from the evidence
availabl e that she was not able to mu s ter in battle
array m o re than six hundred t housand men
,
.
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
A FF I R M A T I VE EVI DE N C E I N
S
UP PO RT O F OU R CO N
C L U S I ON
We arrive at th e result indicated above by sev
eral independen t l ines o f evi dence
O ur figures are sup ported by the state
I
ments o f a num be r o f men who were in position
t o know what was the total e ffective strength o f
the S o uthern armies Among them were General
Cooper adj utant general o f the Con federate
armi e s writing in 1 8 69 ( see Southern H is t o ri
”
cal S ociety Papers V ol vii p 2 8 7 ) D r A T
Bledso e Assi stant S ecretary o f War ; General
John Preston chi e f o f the Conscripti o n Bureau ;
V i ce Pres ident Alexander H Stephens ( Wa r
.
.
.
-
,
,
'
,
,
.
.
,
.
.
,
,
%
-
.
.
OF
TH E
CON FEDER A TE A R M Y
2 1
”
Between the States 1 8 7 0 Vol i i p 6 30 ) Gen
eral Jubal A Ea rly
S outhern H istori cal Pa
”
pers Vol i i p
D r Joseph Jones ( o fficial
report June 1 89 0
S outhern H istori cal S ociet y
”
Papers xix
and General Marcus J Wright
who n o w howe v er puts the numbe rs at 7 00
”
Southern H istori cal S ociety Papers xix
00 0
I ask what better authoriti es on thi s sub
t
could
be
named
than
the
adj
utant
general
o
f
ec
j
the army the Assistant Secretary o f War and the
chie f o f the Conscription Bureau o f the Confed
?
crate States
In August 1 8 69 Dr J oseph Jones s en t to
General Cooper a care fully p repared paper on thi s
subj ect asking hi s opinion as to the accuracy o f
the data contained therein General Coope r r eplied
that a fter having c lo s ely examined the pa pe r
he had com e to the conclus ion from h i s general
”
recollection that it must be regarded as n e arly
”
critically correct
Is it credible that the ad
j utant general o f the army should hav e giv en as
hi s opinion that thi s numbe r
was
”
i f i n fact there had
n e ar ly cri ti c al ly c o rre c t
been upon the rolls o f the Con federate armies
twice that number
men
as Gen
eral Adams would have us believe ?
I I —By adding together the Con federa t e
pr i soners in the hands of t he United Sta t es a t the
,
,
.
,
.
.
.
,
,
,
.
.
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
-
,
,
'
,
,
.
,
.
,
'
,
.
.
-
%
,
,
.
,
TH E
22
N U M ER I CAL STREN GTH
close o f the war
the soldiers who su r
rendered in 1 8 6 5
those who were killed
or died o f wounds
died in pri son
died o f d isease
died from other causes
discharged
deserters
we get a total o f
These figures as to the killed and died of
wounds and o f diseas e are taken fro m Fox s
monumental work on reg i mental l osses H e
conj ectures that nearly
mus t be added
t o the
g i ven abov e making
bu t
gives no grounds fo r th i s
I I I — Again the o fficial report o f General S
Cooper Adj utant General dated March 1 1 8 6 2
2
1
state s the aggre gate o f the
( 7 W R
Confedera t e armi es including arm ed and organ
iz e d militia o fficers and men as
General P reston Super i ntendent o f Con
scription C S A report s from Feb
t o February 1 8 6 5 ( W R
ru ary 1 8 6 2
s eries i v Vol i i i p
C onscriptions ( exclusive o f Arkansas and
Texa s )
Enli stments east o f t he M iss i ssippi River
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
’
,
,
.
,
.
.
,
,
,
.
.
,
,
,
,
,
.
.
.
,
,
,
.
,
.
,
,
.
,
.
.
Gen M arcus J
.
Bu t c f
Man s fi e ld s
’
.
.
Wr i gh t pu t s t h i s num be r a t o nl y
L ife o f Gran t p 338
,
.
.
o n THE CONF ED ER ATE ARMY
2
3
Estimated conscr i p t ions and enli stments
west o f the r i ve r and elsewhere
61
To t al
IV
Now compare w i th thes e rep orts the fol
low i ng statement from th e New Yo rk Tribun e o f
June 2 6 1 8 6 7
Among the d o cuments wh i ch fell i n t o o u r
hands at the do wn fall o f the Con federacy are the
returns very nearly complete o f the Confederate
armies from thei r o rganization i n the summer o f
1 8 6 1 down to the spring o f 1 8 6 5
These returns
have been care fully analyzed and I am enabled to
f urni sh th e returns in ever y department and for
almost ever y month f rom thes e o fficial source s
We j udge in all
di ffe rent men were i n the
”
Con federate ranks during the wa r
Thi s was accompan i ed by a detailed tabular
s t atemen t
Is not t h i s good secondar y ev i dence as to the
numbe rs o f men i n the Con f ederate Army
especially when we remem b er the statement o f
General Cooper late adj ut an t general o f the Con
federate arm i e s ? He says :
The files o f thi s o ffice which could b est a ff o rd
thi s in formation %as t o numbe rs % were carefull y
box e d up and taken on o u r retreat from Rich
.
,
,
,
.
,
.
.
.
,
-
,
TH E
24
NUM ERI CAL S TREN GTH
mond t o Charl o tte North Carol i na where they
were unfortunately captured and as I learn are
”
n o w in Washington
These fil es be it remem
bered h ave never been examined by any South
e rn wr i ter
O bserve also that the
American En c yclo
i
a
e
d
o
f
which
M
r
Charles
A
D
a
na
a
p
late Assistant S ecretary o f War U S was e d
it o r quotes General Cooper s st atement as to num
bers without comment thus tacitly admitting the
truth o f that statement
Can it be j ustly said i n
the light o f thes e facts that the estimate usually
given by Southern writers i s based on assertion
only ?
There is a fi fth l ine upon which we are
V
led to a very similar conclusi o n
In the work o f L i eutenant Colonel Wm F
”
Fox
Regimental Losses in the Civil War we
find the strength o f the Con federate armies fur
n is h e d by the seceded States and by the borde r
States as well reckoned as follows : 52 9 regiments
and 8 5 battalions o f in fantry ; 1 2 7 regiments and
battali
ons
o
f
cavalry
regiments
and
bat
8
1
;
47
talion o f partisan rangers ; 5 regiments and 6 bat
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
.
.
,
.
.
,
.
,
’
,
,
,
.
,
,
.
.
.
.
,
,
'
,
a valua b le d i scuss i on o f our s bjec t i n a pamphle t
e n t i t led A c t s o f t he R ep b l i can Par ty by C a e nov G
who wro t e under t h e m d pl m o f C Ga r dn e r
L
W i nches t e r Va 1 906 pp 59 69
S ee
u
%
”
u
no
e e,
e
-
,
.
,
,
.
z
,
.
u
e
e
.
”
.
,
2
TH E
6
N U M ER I CAL S TREN GTH
thi s ba sis i n fantry regiments might numbe r
only 640 men and cavalry regiments only 600
This marked change in the standard o f the siz e
o f c o mpanies and regiments prescribed by the
Wa r Department in N ovember 1 86 1 as com
pared with the Act o f March 1 8 6 1 lowering the
requis i te numbe r o f men i n an in fantry regiment
from 1 0 40 to 640 and in a caval ry regiment f rom
f
2
to
i
s
suggestive
o
the
fact
that
it
was
6
0
00
7
not found easy to raise regiments o f the s i ze
o riginally prescr i bed
N ow in calculating the st rength o f the Con fe d
crate army fro m the n um ber o f regiments we
shall probably approxima t e closely a correc t re
sult by taking the mean between the larger and
smaller numbe r j ust re ferred to But the mean
between 1 040 and 640 i s 8 40 and that between
2
0
and
6
0
0
i
s
6
6
0
7
Applying this standard to Colonel Fox s state
ment o f t he troops in the entire Con federate
arm y we get t h e following result
Men
8
0
regiments
o
f
in
fantry
each
2
4
5 9
8 5 battalions in fantry 400 each
1 2 7 regiments c avalry 6 00 each
battalions
cavalry
0
0
each
4
47
2 6 1 batteries light artille ry 7 0 each
reg
i
men
s
heav
y
ar
t
iller
y
00
each
t
8
5
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
.
,
.
’
:
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
.
OF TH E
6
8
CON FEDERATE A RMY
2
battalions heavy artillery 400 each
regiments parti san rangers 7 00 each
battal ion partisan ra n gers
7
.
,
,
1
0
35
The siz e o f i n fantry and cavalr y ba t tal i ons and
o f reg i ments and battalions o f heavy a rt i llery i n
thi s calculation as well as o f the reg i ments o f
partisan rangers i s i n each case suggested by that
accom pli shed and experienced o fficer Colonel
Walter H Taylo r adj u t an t general on the sta ff o f
General Robert E L ee His figures may be
rather high
cert ainly they are not too low O f
course such a calculation i s necessarily only ap
proximate but the basi s on which it is made ap
pears reas onably reliable To one who like m y
sel f had personal obse rvation o f the armies i n
Vi rgini a from the first battle o f Manass as to Ap
x
o
m
a
o
the
standard
o
f
stren
th
in
reg
i
ments
t
t
p
g
and battalions in the field above adopted seems i n
con formity with the facts
,
,
,
-
,
.
.
.
.
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
T H E A R GU M E N T O F G E N ER AL A D A M S
Turn we now to examine the est i mate made b y
Gener al Adams and quoted at the beginning o f
this paper
But first let me say t ha t I qu i te agree w i th him
when he says that i f the South had a s man y as
.
2
TH E
8
NUM ER I CAL STREN GTH
men i n arms she ought to have bee n u n
conque rable and probably would have been so
but fo r the United States N avy
That op i n1 o u was expressed by a distingui shed
S outhern writer D r Bledsoe, Assi stant Secretary
o f War in an arti cle written about forty years
ago
He said :
The decisive ci rcumstance
which robbed the S outh o f the de fensive advan
tage o f its wide territory was the superiority o f
i ts enemy upo n the water
All the water front
o f the Con federate S tates was
an exposed
”
fronti er both ocean coasts and navigable rivers
The best authorities in the South have mai ntained
the same view with practically unanimity ; hence
in d i ffering from M r Adams I am not in fl uenced
by a desi re to account fo r our defeat by the over
whelming force o f numbe rs opposed to us b u t
by the des i re to establi sh the truth of h i story
,
,
.
,
.
,
.
,
.
.
,
.
,
.
WE A K POIN T S
IN
G E N ER AL
A DA M s
’
A R GU M E N T
N ow in making the calculation previ ously al
lu de d to it appears to me that our gallant and
generou s fr i end has overlooked some important
considerations bearing on the p roblem di scussed
—
During the first year o f the war the Con
1
federa t e Government could not have availed itsel f
o f even hal f a m i llion o f men for its armies in
,
.
.
,
OF TH E
CON FEDERATE A RMY
2
9
as m u c h
as it was utterly unabl e t o arm an d
equip them The supp ly o f arm s and o f artillery
was ut terly inadequate fo r even hal f that num
As th e wa r progressed the muskets the
sabers the cannon used in the Confederate army
i f examined woul d hav e been found to have been
in larger part captured on the field o f battl e
Pompey the Great is repo rted t o hav e sa i d
I
have only to stamp with my foot to rai s e legion s
”
f rom the soil o f Italy Had J e fferson Davi s been
abl e by a stamp o f his foot to summon a million
men t o the Con federate colors in the spring o f
?
1 86 1
what advantag e would it have been
He
could not hav e armed them even i f he could hav e
fed and clothed and trans po rted them As Gen
eral Adams himsel f has sai d :
The strength o f
an army is measured and limited not by the census
numbe r o f men available but by the means at
hand o f arming equipping clothing feeding and
”
transpo rt ing those men
2
General Adams a ppears to h av e ove r
looked t h e fact that by May 1 8 6 2 the N orthern
a rmies were in permanent occupation o f middle
.
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
.
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
.
.
,
,
ac t ed as ad j t an t f t he T h i rd Br i gade A N Va i n
t he Ge tt y s b rg campa i gn E ven t hen i n t he t h i rd y ear o f
t he war and i n t ha t b es t e % i pped arm y t he re t rn s
showed onl y 1 480 mu s k e t s t o 1 94 1 men i t h e bri gade
O e f our t h o f t h e comman d was w it hou t a r ms
*
I
u
u
,
o
.
.
,
,
u
u
,
n
n
.
.
-
.
TH E
0
3
N UM ERI CA L STRE N GTH
and west Tennessee nearly the whole o f L oui s i
ana pa rt o f Florida the coasts o f N o rth and
South Carolina southeastern Virginia much o f
northern Vi rginia and practically the whole o f
that part o f Vi rginia known as Western Virginia
The population thus exclud e d from the suppor t o f
the Con federacy may be e s timated conservat i vely
at
leaving
to bear the burden
o f the war Hence the estimate o f the arms bear
ing population in 1 8 6 2 when the real tug began
would be not
but
O f this
number one fi ft h as General Adams admits
would be regularly exempt i e
and
many thousands more were detailed for vari o us
branches o f industry Doubtless during the first
yea r thous ands entered the Con federate army
fr o m thi s territory — a fai r propo rtion o f the
on the muster rolls i n March 1 862 ; but
the conscript law cou ld not operate
neve r di d
operate
in this fou rth o f the S o uthern territory
The
seceded
States
including
West
Va
)
(
3
furni shed the N orthern armies according to the
returns o f the War De partment
men I
do n o t remember any ment i on o f this b y M r
Adams though h e alludes t o the statement that
men were furnished by Southern States
to the Un i on armies including the Border States
which d i d no t seced e ( The recor d s o f t he War
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
-
.
.
,
,
-
,
,
,
,
.
.
,
.
.
.
.
.
,
,
.
.
,
,
,
.
O F TH E
C O N FEDERATE A RMY
1
3
Depar t ment show a total o f white soldiers from
all S outhe rn States includ i ng Kentucky M is
souri Maryland West Vi rginia D elaware and
Di str i ct o f Columbia o f
—
I
must
be
remembered
that
while
the
una
t
4
n im it y with whic h the S outhern people supported
t h e war has perhap s neve r been surpassed in so
large a revolution yet there was a large element
o f disloyalty es pe cially in the mountainous re
gions o f the S outh For instance in the Valley
o f Vi rginia there were large num be rs o f % uake rs
and Dunkards all oppo sed to wa r There were
also in that region the numerous descendants o f
the Hessian prisoners who were not in sympathy
with us The number o f Un i on men in the S outh
who di d not take up arms has been estimate d at
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
.
,
.
,
,
.
—
I
must
also
be
remembered
as
D
r
Bledso
t
e
5
sai d in hi s article in the S o u th ern R eview that
there was also a large element o f baser metal
men who begrudged the sacrifice fo r l i berty and
shi rked dange r
—
6
General Adams says that the Con federate
States passed the most drasti c conscr i p t law on
record
which may be true ; but he i s mistaken
i n suppos i ng that thi s law was success fully ex
ec u t e d
Thus General Cobb writes December
1 8 64 f rom Macon Georg i a to the S ecre t ar y o f
.
.
,
,
,
.
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
TH E
2
3
NUM ERI CA L STRE N GTH
War :
I say t o you that you will never get the
men into t h e serv i ce who ought to be there
through the c onscript camp It would requi re
the whole a rmy to en force the cons cript law i f the
same state o f things exi st throughout the Con fed
cracy which I know t o be the ca se i n Georgia and
”
Al abama and I may add Tennessee
W
R
(
series iv vol i ii p
Again H W Walters w r iting from O x ford
Mi ssissippi to the Department December 1 8 64
says :
I regard the conscri pt department in
Georgia Al abama and M i ssissippi as almost
”
Y e t again General T H Holmes re
wo rthless
ports to Adj utant General Coo per as t o N orth
Carolina April 2 9 1 864 :
Afte r a full and
complete con ference with Colonel Mallett com
mandant o f conscription
I am pained
t o report that there is much di sa ffection i n m any
o f the counties w h ich emboldened by the ab
sence o f troops are be i ng o rganized in some
”
places to resist enrolling o fficers
And General
Kemper reports December 4 1 8 64 that in his
belie f there were
men in Vi rginia ou t o f
the army between the ages of eighteen and forty
R series iv vol ii i p
fi ve
In support o f hi s thesis that the whol e military
population was enrolled i n the Con federate armies
Colonel L ivermore quotes a letter of General Lee
,
.
.
.
,
,
.
,
,
.
,
.
.
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
%
,
,
.
.
.
-
%
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
.
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
.
,
TH E
34
NUM ERI CAL S TREN GTH
The statement i s o ften made that the Con fed
c rate Conscri ption embraced all white males be
tween 1 6 and 60 years o f age This is an erro r
The firs t Act April 1 6 1 8 62 embraced men be
tween 1 8 and 35 years ; the second o f Sept 2 7
1 86 2 men between 1 8 and 4 5 years ; the thi rd and
last o f Fe b ruary 1 7 1 8 64 men between 1 7 and
Both
General
Adams
and
Colonel
Livermo
re
0
5
acknowledge th i s Y e t the latter rests h i s argu
ment on the sup pos i tion that the Conscription
gathered in all males be tween 1 6 and 60 years
In further i llustration o f this subj ect I may
point out tha t one o f the di fficulti es con front i ng
the conscript o fficers was the oppositio n o f the
governo r s o f some o f th e States notably the Gov
e rn o r o f M ississippi the Governor of North Car
ol i na an d the Governor o f Ge o rgia Thus the
doctrine o f States Rights which was the bedrock
o f the S outhern Con federacy became a barri er
t o the e ffect i veness o f the Con federate govern
ment % S outh Carol i na passed an exem ption law
w hich nullified to a certa i n extent the conscript
laws o f t he Con federacy and Governor Vance o f
N orth Carolina proposed to t ry title with the
Con federate Government i n resi sting the claims
o f the conscr i pt o fficers to such c i tizens o f N orth
Carolina as he made claim to for the proper ad
”
m i n i s t r ati on o f t he St ate
.
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
.
.
.
,
,
,
,
,
’
,
,
,
%
.
OF TH E
C ONFEDER A TE A RMY
35
”
The laws o f N orth Carol i na General Pr e s
ton compla i ns ( W R iv i ii p
have cre
ated large numbe rs o f o fficers and the Govern o r
o f that State has not only cla i med exemption f or
those o fficers b u t fo r all persons em ploye d i n
any form by the State o f North Carol i na s u ch as
”
workers i n factor i es sal t maker s etc
Th i s b urea u has no power t o en forc e t h e Con
federa t e law in oppos i t i on to t he
c l a i ms
”
o f the State
Governo r B rown o f Georg i a for b ade t h e e n
ro llm e n t
of
large bod i es o f the c i t i z ens o f
”
Geo rgia
The number is suppose d t o h ave
reached e i ght thousand m en liable to Con f e d era t e
service General Preston complains i n l i ke stra i n
o f t he acti o n o f the Governor o f M i ssiss i pp i
,
.
.
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
-
.
,
,
.
%
.
.
.
E K E M P TS AN D DET AIL S
There is an i m po rtant repo rt by G en e ra l Pres
ton in Febru ary 1 86 5 ( W R i v i i i pp 1 09 9
In thi s he g i ves the number o f exempts
allowed by the Conscrip t Bur e a u i n s ev e n St at es
an d parts o f two S tates east o f t h e M i ss i ss i pp i as
.
,
.
,
,
.
,
,
,
H e then g i ves the agr i cult u ral d eta i l s de t a i ls
fo r publ i c nece s s it y and f or governm e nt serv i ce
—t h e
contracto rs an d arti sans a total o f
m en
who le aggrega ti n g
,
,
,
,
.
N UM ERI CA L STRENGTH
TH E
6
3
In another repo rt already re ferred to N ovem
ber 1 8 64 he give s the number o f State o fficers
exempted on the certificates o f governors i n nine
States as
This with t h e preceding
makes a grand total o f
Thes e are exemptions unde r t h e Confed
e rat e State s law i n seven States and in parts o f
two States They do not include the States west
o f the Mi ssis sippi But i n addition to thes e there
were many thousand exemptions under purel y
State laws We have no com plete record of these
last ; but in the State o f Geo rgi a alone we have a
record o f
such exemptions
—
must
also
cons
ider
the
large
numbers
W
e
7
o f men employed on the railroads in the govern
ment departments in State o ffices and in the
various branches o f manu facture necessary for
th e support o f the army and o f the peopl e ; and
in di recting the agri cultural l abo r o f the sl aves
Facto ries were started fo r making S words bay
muskets percussi on caps p o wder cart
o n et s
ridges cartridge boxes belts and other equip
ment ; for clothing fo r caps and shoes fo r har
ness and saddle s fo r artillery cai ssons and car
riage s ; fo r gun s
Cannon and powder
I have already re ferred t o the sta t emen t o f
General Kem pe r that in December 1 864 the re
turns o f th e bu reau o bv i ousl y i mper fec t and par
,
,
,
,
,
,
’
,
.
.
.
.
.
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
-
,
.
,
,
,
,
O F TH E
CON FEDERATE A RMY
37
tial S how
men in the State o f Vi rginia
—
between eighteen and forty fi ve exempt and de
”
t aile d fo r all causes
Th e South having an ag
r ic u lt u ral population
it was neces sa ry as j ust
said when wa r came to o rgan i z e manufactories
o f every kind o f equipment for the a rmy
A fter all the most important question to de
termine i s the numbe r o f m en actually serving
with the colo rs i n the armies o f the Con federate
States And even i f we admit an enrollment i n
the Con federate army o f
and reduce our
estimates o f exemptions and details fo r special
work f rom
to
there remain ap
e rv i c e
n
t
h
l
r
for
s
i
n
l
only
about
a
e
t
e
fi
e
d
p
y
men ; and that I s uppos e i s what General
Cooper and other Southern authorities had in
mind
We know approximately the respective num
bers in t h e great battles o f the war and I submi t
that thes e numbers are far more consi stent with
the maximum o f
serving with the colors
than with the maximum o f
I f in
deed th e Con federacy had been able to muster i n
a rm s a million two hundred thousa n d m en it is
greatly t o the discredit o f their able generals that
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
.
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
T hus t o % uo t e t ha t a b le and exper t a u t h o r i t y Ge n Mar
Le e
cus J Wr i gh t : Ba tt les a r o u n d R i chmond
A t A n ti e t am C on fe d e ra t e s
Mc Cle llan
.
,
.
,
,
,
,
THE N UM E R I CAL S TR E N GTH
8
3
nev e r i n an y on e b a t tl e w er e t hey a b le to c o n f r o n t
the enemy with more than
men
.
B u t our gallan t and genero u s fr i end taxe s u s as
we have seen w i th casting discred i t upon the
p at r i o tism o f the South by our claim that we had
no mo re than S ix o r seven hundred thousand men
in the field I s he j us t ified i n t hi s O pinion ? Let
u s s e e how t h e mat t e r s t ands
,
,
.
.
T H E M ILI T A RY PO PULA T IO N O F T H E CO N FEDER AC Y
In t h e month o f May 1 86 2 as w e h ave sho w n
a bov e at least one—
fourth o f the Southern t erri
tory had been wrenched fro m the control o f the
Con federate Gove rn ment In the terri t ory re
maini ng there w as i n round numbers a po pulat i on
o f about
souls The military po pula
ti on then sho u ld have b e en
To th i s must be added by the exten s i on o f t he
m il i tary age down to seventee n and up to fif ty
t en p e r cent
that i s in all S ix additional y ears
,
,
,
.
.
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
In
t
h
i
s calculati o n I adop t M r Adams ra ti o o f
%
A t F r e d e r i ck s b ur g Co n f e d er a te s
F e d e r als
A t C hancellorsv i lle C on f e d e r
F ede r als
a te s
A t Getty s b urg C on f ed
F e d e rals
A t t h e W i l d e rness C on
F ederals
c ra tes
F e d e rals
fe d e ra te s
’
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
OF THE
C ONFEDER A T E A R M Y
39
three tenths b y a sup posed ex t en s i on d own t o six
teen and u p to S ixty —
which gives i n the
light o f the census returns a bo ut one tenth
fo r the ac tu al extension provided by the law
o f February 1 7 1 8 64 viz d o wn t o seventeen and
up to fi fty year s %
Then we must make a furthe r a d d i t i on ( aga i n
adopting M r Adams rat i o ) fo r you t hs reaching
military age in four years o f twelve pe r cent o f
the military po pulation o r
men Th i s
with t h e age extension add i t i on
makes a total o f
which adde d t o the
o riginal estimated population o f
makes a
grand total o f
To thi s number M r Adams wo u ld add t he men
furnished by the Border States to the Con federate
a rmy vi z ( as is alleged ) 1
a grand avail
abl e total of
But this estimate o f 1
men furnished the
Con federate army by the Border Stat es ( Mar y
land West Virginia Kentucky Mi ssouri ) canno t
be relied upon as even approximately accurate
Fo r example it includes
men alleged to
hav e been furnished by the St ate o f Ma ryland
But a care ful examination o f all the M aryland
organizations including several compan i es in Vi r
ginia regiment s gives a total of only
from
the State o f Maryland ; and thi s number must be
-
,
-
,
,
.
’
.
,
.
,
.
,
,
-
,
.
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
.
,
,
TH E
0
4
NU M ER I CAL S T R EN GTH
largely reduced by names dupl i cated through re
enlistments Applying the ratio adopted b y the
Wa r Department o f the United States we must
deduct at least 9 2 0 men which leaves a total o f
only about
Even thi s I beli eve to be t o o
large Thi s item alon e reduces the estimate o f
I
to about
I will discuss th i s sub
j cet at length a little further on in thi s paper and
will only say here that the re i s good reason to be
lieve
an excessive estimate o f the num b er
actually furnished to the Con fede rate colors by
the Bo rder S tates L et us place the figure at
as a compromi se Then we should have :
Grand total o f men available in the
Southern States
Furnished b y the B o rder Sta t es
.
,
,
.
,
.
.
Total
N E C E S S A RY DED U C T IO N S
us turn now t o th e deductions that have to
be made from this number
O n the ground o f disloyalty we have no
1
facts on which to bas e an estimate hence t h e num
ber must be l eft indeterminate but it was cer
The chie f o f the Bureau o f
t ain ly conside rable
Education estimates the Appalachian moun
t ain e e rs i n the Southern S tates at present at
L et
.
.
,
,
.
.
TH E
2
4
8 64
N UM ER I C A L S TREN GTH
R
W
s
er
i
v
vol
i
ii
p
says
:
(
The governors o f t h e State s do n o t confine
thei r certificates o f exemption to officers as th at
term seems to be us ed i n the law but extend them
to all persons In the s ervice o f the S t ate o r in any
mod e employ e d by State autho rity ; and th at
authority i s i nter po se d to p revent the co n script
o fficers from enr o lling an d assign i n g such p er
”
sons to the Confederate service
H e gives a tabl e ( p 8 5 1 ) o f S t ate o ffic ers ex
empted on cer t ificates o f the governors and it
appea rs t hat i n V i rginia North Carolina S outh
Carolina Geo rgia Alabama M is s i ssippi Ten
n e s s ee an d Flor i d a there were
such ex
empts
The c ivil o fii c e rs exempted in the Sta t e o f
and militi a o fficers
Georgia we re
l
S
ee
W
R
iv
o
i
i
i
p
I
n
the
s
a
me
v
(
State the exempts f or agri cultural and necessary
purpose s reached the number o f
mak ing
the t o tal exemptions in that o n e State
iv
i
ii
I
d
p
(
General Pre s ton al so reports the number o f
St ate o fficers exempted i n Nort h C aro lina N o
I
d
e
m
p
v e m be r 1 864 at
(
There is a report i n the sam e publi cat i on p
o f persons exempted
whi
ch
g
i
ves
the
numbe
r
6
9
by o ccupation i n Vi rg i n i a at
Thus i n
1
.
.
.
,
.
.
,
.
%
,
,
,
.
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
.
.
.
,
,
.
.
,
,
.
.
.
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
OF TH E
CON FEDER A T E A R M Y
43
t hes e three Sta t e s we hav e reco rds o f exempti ons
amounting t o
I am una ble to give the
numbe r o f exemptions i n the remaining e i ght
s eceded St ates ; but i f they were at all i n propor
tion to what we fi n d them i n Vi rginia Ge o rg i a
then w e mu s t reckon the
an d North Carolina
exemptions i n the whol e Con federac y as n e ar l y
since the mil itary popul ation o f those
three States was only a little more than a thi rd
o f the whole
These be i t o b served were n o t
men detailed from the army but exempted f rom
e nrollme n t
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
e
t
i
e
Estimate
o
f
men
l
for
special
work
d
d
a
3
in the variou s branches o f manu facture necessary
fo r the supp ort o f the Arm y and people H ere
we have a di fficult p ro blem but s ome light is
throw n upon i t by the f ollo w i ng repo r t o f m en
detailed in the State o f Georgia ( I dem i v i ii p
.
,
.
Fo r
Fo r
Fo r
Fo r
Fo r
agricultural purpo ses
publ ic necess i ti es
government purposes
contractors
a rtisans mechani cs etc
Total
,
,
.
.
.
9 57
62 9
141
.
0
8
5
TH E
44
N U M ER I CAL S TREN GTH
And i n Vi rgini a we find th i s item :
Men detailed in departments
Total in thes e two States
From thes e figures o f d etail s in these States we
may conservatively estimate the number o f men
detailed for vari ous branches o f work in the
eleven States o f the Con federacy as about 4 0
,
4
The seceded States exclus i ve of West Va
.
,
cons i dera t i on o f t he por t en t ous d iff erenc e b e t w e en
t he n m b er o f men borne on t he r eg i men t al rolls and
t he num b er ac t all y ava i la b l on t he batt lefield sugges t s
t ha t i t ma y b e i n large degree accoun t ed for by t he num b er
o f men de t a i led f or serv i ce i n t he i nd s t r i al arm y
T h s i n t he arm y o f N or t h e rn V i rg i n i a jus t b e f o r e
F d i k b g N ov 2 0 I 862
A ggrega t e presen t and a b sen t
A ggrega t e pr e sen t f or du ty
S oon a f t er Ge t t y s b rg
1 863 : Pres n t
and a b sen t
Presen t f or d t y
Be f ore W i lderness campa i gn :
1 864
Presen t and a b sen t
Presen t f or d t y
O reach i ng Pe t ers b urg J ul y 1 0 1 864 :
Presen t and a b sen t
Presen t for d t y
A t o exemp ti ons i t was c s t omar y t o exemp t f armers
who engaged t o ra i se a cer t a i n amoun t o f corn
A ga i n t he prac t i ce was ex t ens i vel y pursued o f gran ti ng
furloughs f or recru i t i ng serv i ce S ch men con t i n ed t o
be b orn e on t he roll s o f t he i r co m man d s i n t h e field
*
A
u
u
e
,
u
.
u
r c
re
s
ur
.
,
:
,
u
:
e
u
:
u
n
,
,
u
s
u
.
.
u
u
.
O F TH E
C O NFEDERATE ARMY
45
according to the report o f the Wa r Depa rtment
furnished the United States armies with
men Th e se must also be deducted from the ag
re gat e ab o ve stated
g
Then
we
must
deduct
as
General
Adams
5
acknowl edges from the aggregate number o f men
o f milit ary age as above ( viz
l es s 8 0
in U S army leaving
0 00 disloyal and 5
twenty per cent for those exempt on
account o f physical o r mental disability o r 1 58
Thi s i s the usual percentage though in
44 0
the French and B ritish armies it has been as h i gh
as thirty three per cent
—
N atural death rate in two and a hal f years
6
be fore being enrolled in a rm y
compare
(
L ivermore p
But it will be said and j ustly that although
a fter May 1 8 6 2 at least one fourth o f the t erri
tory o f the seceded State s was n o t i n control o f
the Con federate government and there fo re not
availabl e a s a recruit ing ground fo r i ts armi es
nevertheless many th ousands o f men had enlisted
i n the Con fede rat e armies previous to May 1 86 2
Now it appears from Gene ral Cooper s o fficial
,
.
.
,
.
,
.
,
,
,
.
.
.
,
,
.
.
,
-
.
.
,
.
,
,
-
,
,
,
.
,
,
.
’
,
ava i lab le m i l it ar y pop la ti on
of
wh i ch
i n t he a r m y J anuar y 1 862 Abo v e fi g u re is
2 % pe r cen t
o f re m ainde r v i
*
A ggrega t e
u
,
.
,
z
.
.
TH E
6
4
NUM ER I CAL STREN GTH
r eport that the aggregate number o f m en and
o fficers enrolled i n March 1 8 6 2 w as
And s o our quest ion i s How large a pro portion
o f this number i s to be credited to that pa rt of the
Con federacy whi ch by May 1 8 6 2 was occup i ed
by the Federal a rm i es ? I f we assum e t h at t h e
part o f the country thus occu p ied furnished as
l arge a proportion as the re s t o f the Confe d erac y
n
large
assumpti
n
the
the
popul
t
i
on
o
f
a
o
a
s
a
(
)
the occupi ed part is e s ti mated to hav e been abo u t
one fourth o f the wh o le we may sup pose that it
furnished the Con f eder ate army o n e fourt h o f
the t otal
t h at i s t o say
men
Th is is pr o bab ly a very large as sumptio n b ut it
may be accepted for the p u rpo s e s o f our calcula
tion
To sum up thi s part o f the argument : L et it
be granted that there was an available military
p opulation first and last in that part of the Con
federacy not occupied by the Federal arm i es of
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
-
,
-
.
,
,
.
,
,
,
To which may be added volunteer s first
yea r o f war f rom territ o ry occupied
by Federal forces a fter May 1 8 6 2
And als o men from Bo rde r States
,
.
.
Aggrega t e
O F TH E
C ONFEDER A TE A RMY
Deduction s from this as follows :
N atural de ath rate i n 2 % years befo re
being enrolled i n army
Southern men i n U S army
Di sloyal estimated
Exempt fo r physi cal and men tal d i s
ability : 2 0 % o f the whole ( a fter de
ducting the t w o previ o us i tems ) v i z
47
,
,
5
.
.
,
.
1
L eaving available aggregate
Aggregate
N ow let us remember that out o f t hi s available
aggregate ( exaggerated though I bel ieve the
number to be ) there had t o be created for the
s ervice o f the Con federate State three armies
an army o f s oldiers an army o f civil servants
and an army o f industrial and agr i cultural work
ers I f we put th e strength o f the fighting army
at
there will remai n for the othe r two
armies
men
and we have seen grounds
,
,
,
.
,
ol L i vermore s me t hod o f compu t a ti on i f appl i ed t o
t he t rue ava i la b l e num b er
w i t h add i t i ons and de
no t ed a b ove y i elds a ver y s i m i lar res l t a bo t
d ti
h i s b oo k p 2 3 b u t no t e on p 2 1 an erro r o f
S
calcula t i on wh e r e i ns te a d o f
h e shoul d gi v e
C
uc
’
.
,
ons
u
,
ee
,
,
.
,
.
,
u
TH E
48
NUM ERI CAL STRE N GTH
fo r believing that there were
soldiers de
tail ed for special work and
exempt as
State o fficers workmen in vari ous occupations
agri cultural and necessary purposes mechani cs
railway se rvants etc And it may be asked with
confidence whether fo r all these mani fold purposes
—
one hundred and sixty two thousand men can be
consi dered an excessive o r unreasonable numbe r
To support the army in the field to equi p the civil
governments o f eleven great States and to supply
the li fe blood o f c i viliz ation in a country of such
vast exte n t as the S outhern Con federacy meces
s arily absorbed the energies o f a grea t numbe r o f
men
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
.
,
,
,
.
G E N ER AL A D A M S CLAIM S S OU THER N S U PPO RT F O R
H I S CO N CLU S IO N
But General Adams suppo rts his opinion by fi g
ures taken from a recent work
The S outh in
”
the Building o f the Nation H e is thus able to
show on the authority o f S outhern writers them
selves an aggregate estimate o f
enlis t
ments in the Con fe derate armie s — to which he
add s 1
as the number claimed to have been
furnished the Confederate army from the four
Border S t ates making a grand to t al o f
men
,
.
,
,
.
TH E
0
5
NUM ER I CA L S TREN GTH
this numbe r
du c e d
must be greatly
re
.
It has i ndeed been argued that we cannot
make th e deduction which the Wa r O ffice claims
in estimating the number of men in the Union
armies as stated a b ove fo r t h e reason that the
—
twelve months men i n the Con federate armies
were all retained in service for th e war by the
Act o f April 1 6 1 86 2
Again i t is insisted that
substantially all o f the regiment s enrolled i n
”
1 8 6 1 remained in se rv i ce to the end of th e war
It may then be assumed that i n e ffect the term
o f service o f all who entered the Con federate
armies continued fr o m the time they entered u ntil
the end o f th e War May 4
S
ee
L
ive
r
(
”
more
N umbe rs and Losses p 52
The best way to test the soundness o f thi s con
c lu s io n i s to look into the actual record o f some o f
—
the t roops to see whe t he r o r not they di d re enl i st
I f they did then the same opport u nity fo r err o r in
counting them twi ce o ffered itsel f as in the case
o f the Uni on enli stments
I cite then a few examples o f re enlistment
established bey o nd doubt
The first Maryland In fantry spring o f 1 8 6 2
I
Rodes Brigade at Yo rktown spring o f
2
the fifth sixth and twel fth Alabama and
1 8 62
t wel fth Mi ss i ssipp i reg i ment s
,
,
,
,
’
.
,
,
%
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
.
,
,
.
-
,
.
.
,
.
’
,
.
,
.
O F TH E
C O NFEDER A TE A R M Y
1
5
They retained the i r corporat e ident i t y b u t
not simply continued o ver At any rate some
”
W
men i n them did no t rema i n
C
ol
o
nel
(
J
Mallet February 1 6
s
Bonham
s
outh
Carol
i
na
reg
i
men
t
enli
t
ed
S
3
—
i
fo r S x month s Re enli sted 1 8 6 1
( Statement
o f Colonel H ilary He rbe rt )
Gen
late
S
ecretary
o
f
War
e ral Di ck i nson
4
remembers regiments which were enli st e d for
three months and then re enl i sted
The
Eighth
Ala
b
ama
C
olonel
i
lar
y
Her
H
5
bert H e says :
The men stepped ou t one by one and re en
li sted all but one man an d he exercised the liberty
whi ch all had o f declining to re enl i st Thi s was
ni J an u ary I 8 64 f
I quote als o an o rder o f Genera l Lee s on th e
subj ect February 3 1 864 :
The Command i ng
General announces with grat i fication the re enlist
ment o f the regiments o f th i s army fo r the wa r
and the reiteration o f t he war regiments o f the i r
determination t o cont i nue in the army until i nde
”
e
n
n
d
e
is
achieved
The
fact
o
f
enlistmen
t
c
e
e
r
p
then i s absolutely established In fact prao t ic ally
all o f the twelve months volunteers re enlisted in
,
,
.
,
.
.
.
,
’
.
.
.
.
.
,
,
-
.
,
.
,
.
-
,
,
-
.
,
’
,
’
,
,
-
,
-
.
.
’
-
1 862
.
-
TH E
2
5
NUM ERI CA L STRE N GTH
T H E S E RE C E N T
S
O U TH ER N E S T I M A TE S G RE A T LY
E % AGG ER A TED
But it can be shown I think beyond c o n t radic
tion that the numbers given by the representatives
o f the variou s States whi ch M r Adams q u otes
”
from Th e S o u th and f rom other S outhern pub
lic at io n s a re enormously exaggerated
We may test the accuracy o f thi s est i m ate o f
thei rs brie fl y as follows : Th e to t al military po pu
l ation o f the 1 1 seceded States in 1 8 6 1 was 9 84
4 7 5 not taking i nto account that a bout one fourth
o f ou r territor y and population became unavail
abl e for rec ruiting p urposes within o n e y ear o f
the breaking out o f the war I f we add one
tenth for t h e extens i on o f the milita ry age by
Con federat e law down t o 1 7 and u p to 50 we
have
and i f we add 1 2 per cen t for
youths reaching military age in four years w e
h ave
aggregating
But from
this we must deduct as military wr i ters agree 2 0
per cent for men exempt for physi cal and mental
disability viz
which leaves available
fo r military duty i n the four years o f the war
through the wh o le extent o f the S outhern terri
tory
N ow i f w e accep t the figures o f
the S t ate hi storians we h av e
enrolled in
the Confed e rate Arm y ; and t he rep orts o f the
,
,
.
,
,
.
.
,
-
,
.
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
OF TH E
C ONFEDE RATE A R M Y
53
United States War D epartment state that exclu
soldiers
s ive o f West Vi rgi nia there were 5
in t h e Union A rmy from thes e same S outhern
States which makes an aggregate o f
men
furnished to both armi es whi ch i t will b e o b
served i s nearly
more than the entire mil
ita ry population % Without g o ing any further
this shows that there h as been serious erro r in the
above estimates o f Con federate enrollment
But there are several other matters to be c o n s id
ered In the first place by the S pring o f 1 8 6 2 at
least one fourth o f the territory o f the seceded
States w as under the control o f the Uni t ed States
Army ; and there fore that much o f the territory
was not availabl e as a source o f supply for the
Confederate Army Thi s cuts o ff nearly one
fourth o f the military strength Calculated o n
thi s basi s the writers alluded to make the aggre
gate o f So u thern soldiers mo re than
in
excess o f the enti re military population %
Again the conscript law drasti c as i t was was
very imperfectly executed as those i n charge o f
it at the time amply testified The oppositi on o f
the Governors o f Missi ssippi Georgi a South
Carolina and N o rth Carolina to the conscript law
will be remembered We must also remember
tha t thousand s of m e n were employed on the
railroads in the Government depa rt ments and in
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
.
,
-
,
,
.
.
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
.
,
,
54
TH E
NUM E R I CAL S TREN G TH
var i ous b ran ches o f man u fac t ure necess ar y for
the support o f t he a rmy and the p eople and also
fo r agricul t u ral lab o r I t must also be remem
be re d t hat there were thousands o f men i n all the
Con feder ate Stat e s exempted by State authority
I f these thing s are consi dered it becomes plain
tha t the prev i ously quoted estimates o f t he s ev
eral Sta t es o f the Con f ederacy canno t possi b l y
be accepted as at all near t h e real facts
Let us n o w compare these est i mates o f the
S outhern wr i ters quoted with the military po pu
lat i on o f some o f th e Sta t e s :
,
.
.
,
.
.
The m i litary populat i on o f Virg i n i a i n
1 86 1
exclus i ve o f West Virg i nia i s
e stimated by L ive rmore at
Add one tenth for extensi on o f m i l it ar y
age down t o seventeen and up to fifty
Add twelve p er cent fo r youth s maturing
to seventeen in fou r y ears
,
,
-
1
.
.
Total
Deduct exempts for phys i cal and mental
de fects twenty pe r cent
,
Avai l a bl e
m i l it a ry
p o p u lat i on
1
But the representat i ve wr i ter i n Th e S o u th
p u t s the n u mber o f m e n f u rn i shed b y V i rg i nia to
OF TH E
CONFEDERAT E A R M Y
55
the Southern armies at
whi ch i s
mo re than the available military po p u lat i on %
Could there be a more palpabl e r edu c ti o ad ab
s u rdu m
?
Bes ides as I have shown i n V i rg i nia an d all
the States the re were large num b ers o f men ex
empt as State o fli c e rs Thi s cons i derably i nc reases
the twenty per cent which Colonel Fox s ay s are
in all countries exempted fro m m i li t ar y s erv i ce
Take next Florida :
,
,
.
.
.
Her military populat i on i n 1 8 6 1 wa s
Add one tenth fo r extens i on o f militar y
age down t o seventeen and up to fifty
Add twelve pe r cent for youths attaining
seventeen years in four y ears
.
-
.
.
Deduct exempts twent y p e r cen t
,
Available mil i tary popula ti on
the writer quo t ed by M r Adams s t ates t ha t
Flo rida furnished
t o the Con federat e
Bu t
.
T he t en per cen t add i ti on for e x t ens i on o f m i l it ary
age i s t oo h igh an es ti ma t e i n t h i s and t he f o llow i ng t ab les
wh e n we r emem b e r t ha t t h e con s cr i p t law low e r i ng t he
age t o s even t een and r a i s i ng i t t o fi f t y d id no t g o i n t o
opera t i on un ti l F e b ruary 1 7 1 864 by wh i ch ti m e t h e terri
t o r y o f t h e C on f e d er ac y wa s g r e a t l y c o n t rac te d
*
.
,
,
,
.
TH E
6
5
NUM ERI CA L S TREN GTH
States army and the War O ffic e record s S how
t hat S h e furnished the Union army
making
a total o f
whi ch is 9 00 more than the
enti re available m i litary population %
,
.
—
Georgi a M ili t ary populat i on in
1 86 1
1 1
Add o ne tenth for extension o f military
age down to seventeen and up to fi fty
Add twelve pe r cent fo r youth s atta i ning
seventeen y ears i n four ye ars
-
.
1
.
Total
D educt twenty per cent for exempts
.
.
Available military pop u lation
But the alleged enrollment in the Con f ederate
States army i s
whi ch i s
1 0 more than
the available military population making no
allowance fo r the failure o f the cons cript o fficers
to put into the army every man liable to militar y
dut y and none for the thousands exempt f rom
service
,
,
.
N o rth
—
Ca rolin a M il i tary
%
population
Add one —
tenth fo r the extension o f mili
tary age down to seventeen and up to
fi ft y
I
TH E
8
5
NUM ER I CAL S TREN GTH
M iss i s s i pp i — M il it ary population
Add one tenth fo r extensi on o f m i l i tary
-
7
2
02 9
Add twelve per cent for youths maturing
to military age i n four years
.
Deduct t wenty per cen t
.
fo r
exemp t s
.
Leav i ng ava i lable
alleged Con federat e enrollmen t was
and fu rnished to the United States army
1
whi
ch
i
s
nearly
more
than
the
t
tal
o
5
5
military population taking no account o f the
large number o f exempts and o f the failure to e x
e c u t e the c onscript act
The
,
,
.
—
Alabam a M ilitary po pulation was
%
Add one t enth for the extensi o n o f mili
tary age down to sevente e n and up to
fi fty
Add twelve pe r cent fo r youths ma t ur i ng
to seventeen years i n four y ears
-
.
.
Total
Deduct t wenty per cent fo r exempts
.
Lea vi ng
v i l a bl e
a a
.
.
6
8
97 5
,
OF TH E
CONFEDER A TE A R M Y
59
alleged Con federa t e enrollment was
and furnished to the Union army
making a total o f
whi ch i s within
o f the total availabl e taking no account o f the
large number exempted fo r Stat e o fficers and
other caus es and taking no account either o f the
numbe r o f men who coul d not be reached by the
conscript o fficers
The
,
,
,
,
,
.
Tennesse e — M ilitary populatio n
Add one tenth as be fore
Add twelve per cent as before
.
-
.
.
Total
Deduct t w enty per cent
10
.
.
L e aving availab le
I
The
alleged Con federate enrollment w as
1
and the State furnished the Union arm y
a total o f
whi ch i s within
o f the total available military population without
taking accoun t o f the men not reached by the
conscri pt o fficers and further taking no account
o f the fact that so large a part o f the State was
i n occ u pation o f the Federal armies
As to Texas Arkansa s and L ou i siana it i s
enough to s ay that they were i n that Trans M is
s is s ipp i Depar t ment o f which t he Con fede rate
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
-
60
TH E
NUM ER I CAL STREN GTH
Government los t control in July 1 8 63 Hence it
i s not su rp rising that even those in fl ated estimates
o f the number o f men furnished the C o nfederate
army fall far short o f the estimated military po p
u lat io n
In Arkansas however the estimate
comes within
o f the total available
out o f
In t h e ligh t o f t h e facts j ust stated we must
conclude that the S ou thern writers quoted by
General Adams have in thei r zeal fo r the honor
and glory o f thei r several States greatly over
estimated the number o f men contributed by the
same to the Con federate armi es This would be
mo re probable a pri o ri than that the leading men
i n the Con federate army and Government wh o
were at t h e sources o f i n form ation and who
ought to have been well in formed should have
so enormously underestimated the strength o f the
a rmies o f the Sout h ; bu t the tests t o which we
h av e n o w submitted the figures g i ven by th e s e
State historians dem o nstrate thei r erro r beyond
the possibility o f doubt They must be cut down
by several hundred thousand A l arge eleme n t o f
this erro r i s t o be found as I have suggested in
th e failure t o observe the great number o f t e
enlistments that undoubtedly took place
es pecially i n 1 86 2 when the t erms o f servi ce o f
nearly all the Con federate regiments exp i red
,
.
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
.
,
,
,
,
.
OF
TH E
61
C O NFEDERATE A RMY
Thi s duplication in the opini o n o f the m i l i tary
S ecretary o f the United S tates red u ces the to t al
by twenty per cent
As a sample o f how errors creep in t o repor t s
o f numbers it i s stated ( W R s er iv vol i i i p
6
as
to
a
ertain
number
o
f
conscripts
We
c
9 )
”
find some men were reported th ree times
And
again ( I d p 9 9 ) that the Adj utant General s
repo rt contains an e rror i n w hich he has accounted
”
fo r
men tw i ce
L et it be observed finally that when we have
reached a reasonably p r o bable conclus i on o f the
men enlisted in the Con federate armi es during the
four years o f war we must then proceed to as c e r
tain i f we can the probabl e number o f these en
listed men w h o we re de t ailed fo r vari ous du ti es
and occupations ancillary to the support o f the
government and the army And only when thi s
number has been deducted from the total enlist
ments will we have ascert ained the pro bable num
be r o f men actually serv i ng with the colors and
making up the fighting force o f the Con federac y
,
,
.
'
,
.
.
,
.
.
.
,
.
,
,
.
%
.
-
’
.
.
‘
,
,
,
,
,
.
.
T H E CON TR I B U T IO N O F T H E B O RDER S T A TE S T O
T H E A R M I E S O F TH E CO N FEDER A C Y
It i s a di fficult problem t o det ermine with any
degree o f probability how many men were con
TH E
62
N UM ERI CA L STREN GTH
tributed to the armies o f the Co n fed eracy by the
Border State s Th e fa c to rs by whi ch it might
be solved do not s e em t o be within reach At
least I h av e not been able to possess mysel f o f
them There li es be for e me a printed L ist o f
Regiments and B attalions in th e Con fede rate
”
S tates Army 1 8 6 1 1 86 5
Acco rding to thi s
there we re furni shed by Missouri 2 1 battali o ns
and 7 9 regiments ; by Kentucky 1 6 battalions and
2 6 regiments ;
by M aryland 2 in fa nt ry regi
me n ts and 4 bat t alions 4 b atte ri es ; also the Ma ry
la n d L ine o f v arious arms B ut upon in s pe c
tion it appears th at thi s Maryland Lin e was
formed o f thos e regiments and batta li on s and ba t
t e ries p r eviously e n umer ated
General Charles Francis Adams f ollowing
Colonel Livermore tells us there were 2 38 full
regiment s from the Bo rder States in the Con fed
On
e rat e army bes ides 1 32 lesser organizati o ns
the other hand Colonel Fox in his well known
”
work
Reg i mental Losses in the Civil War
cred i ts the Border St at es with having sent i nto
the Con federate army o nly 2 1 regiments and 4
battalions o f in fantry ; 9 regiment s and 5 bat
talions o f cavalry and 1 1 batteri es of light
artillery As to nu m bers he estimates them at
over
p
(
These est i m ates an d numbers o f C olonel Fox
.
.
,
.
.
’
-
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
,
.
,
-
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
.
O F TH E
63
CONFEDERATE A R M Y
look st rang e be s i de t he estima t e o f
and
as give n by some So u thern write rs
We have already s t ated that in The South i n
”
the Building o f the N ation M aryland is cred
it e d w ith having furn ished
men to
Con federate army Ho w w i d e o f the mark this
m ay b e s e en by i nspe c ti ng the fo l
st atement i s
lowing to t al o f organizat i o ns o f M aryland men
i n the Confed erac y :
.
,
.
,
I N F AN TRY
2
Fi rst M aryland In fant ry number o f men
8
7
S econd M aryland In fantry
62 7
Company B Twenty fi rs t Virginia Colonel
L Clarke
1 09
O ne company Thi rt eenth Vi rgin i a Lan i er
Guards estimated
75
O ne c o mpany Sixt y fi rs t and S ixt y—
second
Virgi n ia est i ma t ed
65
.
,
.
-
,
,
.
.
,
,
-
,
,
To t al In fantry
CAVAL RY
Fi rs t Maryland Colonel Ridgeley B rown
Company K Fi rst Virg i nia ; trans ferred i n
August 1 8 64 t o Fi rst Ma ryland
Li eutenant Harry Gilmour Ba t talion esti
74
.
,
,
,
,
1 97
,
2
Col o nel S t urg i s D av i s
Batt al i on e s t im ated
,
.
0
5
1 00
64
TH E
NUM E RI CA L STRE N GTH
O ne Maryland Company in S eventh Vi r
ginia esti mated
O n e Maryland Company in Thirty fi ft h Vi r
ginia Co lonel Elij ah Whit e
O ne Maryland Company i n Fo rty thi rd Vi r
ginia Colonel Mosby est imat ed
75
,
-
1 03
,
-
,
75
,
674
Total cavalry
A RT ILL ERY
Colonel Snowde n And rews
S econd Maryland Captain Gri ffin
Thi rd Maryland Colonel Rowan Capt a i n
Ritter
In Western Army F o urth Maryland
Che sa peake Capt a i n B rown Capt ain
Chew
Ca ptain B re t h e d H o rse A rt i llery ( a Mary
land battalion though m u s t e red i nto serv
i ce as Vi rgi nia n )
Balti m ore He avy Art illery estimat e d
M arylan ders at Charleston S out h Carolina
est i mated
,
,
2 04
1 97
,
0
35
,
,
,
,
1
37
,
-
,
,
,
75
I oo
,
2 2
5
Total a rtill ery
Thes e figu re s are comp i l ed from the m u s t er
TH E
66
NUM ERI CAL STREN GTH
St ate s v i z Ke n t ucky
M issouri
West Vi rgi n i a
the same uninte n tional ex
agger ation doubt les s exi s ts here as I h av e shown
in regard t o the num be rs alleged t o have bee n
furni shed b y t h e s eceded St ates Un fortunately
i t i s not possi bl e to be definite in stating the num
bers furnished by the Border States When we
o b serve the discrepancy between Colonel Fox s
P res i dent Tyler s
and Colonel
Liv ermo re s
i t becomes cl ear that the
whol e subj ect i s involved in uncertainty I in
cline to t h e opini on t hat
i s neare r the
actual numbers in th e S outhe rn army from these
Bo rd er States tha n
but for the sake o f
argumen t I l eave the number
as s tated
*
ab o ve
Be fore concluding t his b ranch o f the
subj ect I would call attention to the fol
lowing remark made b y M r Charles Franci s
”
Adam s i n his M ilit ary Studies p 2 8 2
He
says that the St ates named %meaning Kentucky
M aryland M i ssour i Wes t Vi rginia % s ym pat h iz
.
,
,
,
,
,
.
.
’
’
’
.
.
.
.
,
.
,
,
,
*
D E AR D R
I t i k
.
Mc K I M
WA D EP A TM ENT
W A S H I N GTON M ay
R
R
,
,
1 8,
1912
.
,
h n y our es ti ma te o f
as repres e n ti ng t h e
t ot al num ber o f t roops f urn i sh e d by t he Bord er S t a tes
is a b o u t c o rr e c t
I t can n e ve r be defin it el y asc e r t a i ne d
Ve ry t ru ly y our s
MARCU S J WRI GH T
.
.
,
.
.
OF THE
CON FED E R AT E A R M Y
67
ing as at the t i me th e S ou t he rn a u t h o riti es
claimed most deeply with the Confederacy sho u ld
have furnished over
rec ruits t o the Fed
eral army and only
t o that o f the Con
federacy i s to say the least deserving o f t e
”
mark
i t calls fo r expl anation
Agai n he
I t would b e not unna t ural to ass um e t ha t
says :
thes e State s fu rnished an eq ual number o f re
”
I
p
c ru it s to the Con federacy
d
(
Thi s s tatement i s su fficiently amaz ing On t he
contrary would it n o t be mos t u nn atu ral t o as
sume t h at these fou r S tates occupi e d and c o n
trolled from end t o end by the Federal arm i es
should have furnished as many men t o t h e Con
feder ate a rmy as to the Fede ral a rm y n o t w it h
the enormou s di fficu lties o f pas s i ng
s tanding
?
h
through t e lines
Alth o ugh there w as m u ch
senti ment fav o rable to the Con federacy i n these
four S tates I fear there can n o t be an y doubt th at
the preponderance o f sentiment w as in favo r o f
the Union ; and he must be blind who does not
recogni z e t h e fact th at the di fficulties in the wa y
o f a young m an desi ring t o enlist i n the S o u thern
army while his Sta t e was o ccupied b y the Fed
e ral forces were eno rmou sly great
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
.
.
.
.
.
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
CON CLU S IO N
There are two remarks
o
f
Gen e r al Ad ams t o
TH E
68
N U M ER I CAL S TREN GTH
wh i ch b e f ore clos i ng I sh o ul d like to call a t ten
t i on
H e st ates th at t h e fo reigners i n the Un i on
arm y w er e more than counterbalanced b y our
”
drastic c o nscription
M ilitary Studies p
Now it appea rs f ro m o ffici al reports that there
were
f oreigner s i n the Union army so
tha t he must h ave supposed that the co nscript i on
law produced abo ut
s o ldi er s It ac t uall y
produced east o f t he M i ssi ssippi
men f rom
February 1 86 2 wh en the first law was pa s sed to
February 1 86 5 We cannot suppose that the ad
dit io ns fro m t he States west o f the M issi s s i pp i
Texas Loui siana and Arkans as
could have
been ev en one fourth as numerous The militar y
populati o n was a bout one thi rd as large but by
1 8 6 3 t hat terr i tor y was ov err u n by the Federal
a rmies But i f we pu t these at
we have
only
instead o f the hal f million which
M r Adams suppos es And i f we shoul d add the
men which the conscription o fficers mag
e
e
u
s
had
been
driven
s
d
n i fyin g thei r diligence
g
i nto the army by enlistme n t to avoid conscription
w e w ould then have o nl y
,
,
.
.
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
-
.
-
,
.
.
.
,
,
Aga i n General Adams says :
,
As respects m ere numbers i t i s ca pable o f
dem o nstra t ion th a t at the clos e o f the s truggle the
p repo nderance was on t h e si d e o f t h e Confed
,
O F TH E C ON F E D E R A TE A R M Y
69
rac y and d i st i nctly so The Un i on a t t h a t ti me
had it i s said a million men on its muster rolls
it might possibly hav e b ee n abl e t o put
m e n int o the fighting line
O n t h e oth e r
si de
the fighting strengt h o f the Con
federac y c annot hav e been less than tw o thi rds
i ts normal s t rength The South S hould have
”
been abl e to muste r on pap er
men
I
e
m
pp
2
1
d
4
(
Compare t hi s sta t emen t o f what t h e S ou t h
s h o u ld h av e be e n able to muster w i th the consoli
dated ab s tract o f the latest returns o f the Con
federate arm y show i ng what she w as able t o
muster Thi s i s the rec o rd :
Officers and men in all the Con federate a rmies
Februa ry 1 8 6 5 aggregate fo r duty
ag
r
a
p
resent
and
absen
t
i
v
e
t
R
e
g g
iii p
General M arcus Wr i ght an expert author i t y
estimates the strength o f the Con federat e arm y
at t h e c lo s e o f th e w ar thus :
c
,
.
.
,
,
.
%
.
.
,
,
.
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
.
.
.
,
.
,
,
Prese n t
Absent
T otal
And o f the Union arm y t h u s :
1
I 1
1
3
THE
0
7
N UM E R I CA L S TR E N GTH
Presen t
Absent
To t al
1 , 00 0, 50 7
I f General Adams i s right one cannot but ask
where were the o ther
men ove r and
above the 3
shown by the o fficial report a1
lu de d to to have been on the rolls ? The
men in N or thern prisons will not help the s itua
tion fo r they we re not exactly available as pa rt o f
”
the fighting strength o f the Con federacy Com
pare also t h e fact t hat there were mustered out o f
the Un i on army at the end o f the war
men ; and ther e were i n all t h e Con fed eracy sur
rendered Confederate soldie rs to t h e number o f
only and thi s included all who were pa
ro le d whether i n hospital
or a t thei r homes as
well as thos e in arms
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
In conclusio n I am reminded o f the words o f
General L ee in a letter to General Jubal A Early
I T WILL B E D I FF I CULT TO
S h o rtly after the war
GE T T H E
WO R L D T O U N DER S T AN D T H E O DD S
”
A GAIN S T WH I C H WE F OUG H T
Still I cann ot hel p thinking that the s t a t ements
o f the adj ut an t gen eral o f the Con fed e rate armies
i n his o ffic i al repo rt s and the t es t im o n y o f Gen
.
%
,
.
-
,
,
OF
TH E
CON FEDER A T E A RMY
1
7
e ral L ee h i msel f in regard to the num be rs i n hi s
army will ultimately be considered by the world
more reli abl e than the a pri o ri estimates o f even
s o care ful and honest an investigato r as Colonel
L iv e rmore
When imm ediately a fter the surrender at Ap
o
m
a
o
x
General
M
eade
asked
Gene
ral
Lee
how
t
t
p
many men he had in his army the latter replied
that he had on his enti re front from Richmond to
P e tersbu rg not mo re than
muskets
”
Then said General M ead e
we had five to
”
your one
O n the whol e I think we may still
claim for the a rmies o f the S outhern Con fed
e rac y the encomium penned by Vi rgil nearly two
thou sand yea rs ago :
”
E x igu i numer o sed b ello viv i d a vi rtus
,
.
,
,
.
,
%
%
,
,
.
,
.
WORD
P OS T
The argu men t s adduced i n t he preced i ng pages
are believed by t h e wr i te r to be vali d and su f
fi c ie n t to refute the conclusion reached by Colonel
L i vermore the Hon Ch arles Franc i s Adams and
others th at there was i n t he Confeder acy a
minimum o f
e ffectives t o wh i ch we
must add
men f rom the Borde r States
giv i ng a t otal Con federate s t rength o f
I have not a t tempted to give definite figures as to
the ac t ual enrollment in the Southern a rmies
My argu m ent i s o f necess i ty largely bas ed on t he
proba b ilities o f the s ituation
i t does not pro
fess to be dem on s trative o r fina l But prob a
bilit y i s the guide o f li fe
and I b eli eve I have
blazed a path by which f u t ure s t uden t s o f the s ub
je c t h av i ng be fo re them the mu ster rolls o f the
Con federate army will be abl e to reach mo r e de fi
n i te conclus ions in thi s important s u bj ect
con
elus i ons howeve r no t s eriousl y at var i ance with
thos e s t ated in thes e pages *
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
have no t i n t h i s M onograph t ak en accoun t o f an
a rgumen t some t i me s p t f orward drawn f rom t he alleged
f ac t t ha t t he census o f 1 890 show e d t ha t t here we r e t hen
l iving
C on f edera t e and
U n i te d S t a t es sol
d i ers ( or i nclud i ng sa i lors an d mar i nes
Bu t
t he R epor t on Popula t i on 1 890 Par t I I p clxx i i s t a t es
t ha t t he fig res firs t % o t ed are approx i ma t e onl y an d
hav e no t b een s b jec t ed t o care ful rev i s i o n an d compar i
s on
No pos i t i v e conclu s i on t here f ore can b e drawn
f rom t hem T he i r unrel i a bi l i ty i s s hown by t h e f ac t t ha t
a t t ha t very ti m e t he War D epar t men t es ti ma te d t ha t t h e r e
*
I
u
,
,
,
u
%
,
.
u
,
u
”
.
,
.
,
,
TH I S B OOK I S D U E ON TH E L A S T D A TE
S TA IMP E D B E L OW
A N I NI TI A L F I NE 0F 2 5 C E NTS
W I L L B E A SS E S S E D F O R F A I LU R E TO R ET U R N
T H I S B O O K O N TH E D A T E D U E T H E P E N A L T Y
W I L L I N C R EA S E TO 5 0 C E N T S O N TH E F O U R T H
D A Y A N D TO
O N TH E S E V E N T H D A Y
.
O VER D U E
.