by Charles Marshall, Joseph Eggleston Johnston and Jubal Early

“ The Federal authorities and Federal writers have almost invariably exaggerated our strength, our own people have been in profound ignorance of our real numbers, and there has been among some of our most distinguished leaders honest differences of opinion as to our strength at different periods.
The following discussion, as to General Lee's numbers during the seven days battles, has excited great attention, not only on account of the interest in the questions involved, but also because of the standing of the distinguished soldiers who were parties to it. ”

“ If, with the means in the power of the two Governments respectively, the Confederate Government was able to raise, arm, equip, and put into the field armies bearing a greater proportion to the population upon which it was dependent than that of the armies of the United States Government to its population, it shows that the former Government displayed much the superior energy and efficiency of the two. ”

“ Perhaps it is very natural that officers of the United States army should disbelieve that they were so long baffled by such small numbers as were really opposed to them, and we know that the Government at Washington has invariably refused all access by Confederate officers to the Confederate records and returns on file in the archive office; but there is a very simple process, and that is by the rule of three, by which we can form a correct estimate of the relative strength of the two armies. ”

“ Colonel Marshall says, on the evidence of subsequent returns, that the troops of Holmes, Ripley and Lawton, amounted to but 11,866 men. This is not evidence to be put against the statements of those officers. And, besides, it is not to be supposed that General Lee permitted two such unwieldy bodies to remain so in an army in which the average strength of brigades did not much exceed 2,500. It is much more probable that their numbers were reduced by transfers to the weaker brigades than that their commanders were grossly ignorant of them. ”

“ It is very far from the truth. General Lee did not attack the enemy until the 26th of June, because he was employed from the 1st until then in forming a great army, by bringing to that which I had commanded, fifteen thousand men from North Carolina, under Major-General Holmes; twenty-two thousand men from South Carolina and Georgia, and above sixteen thousand men from the 'Valley,' in the divisions of Jackson and Ewell, which the victories of Cross Keys and Port Republic had rendered disposable. ”

“ The entire white population of all the States that composed the Confederacy, even nominally, was a little more than 7,000,000, but the actual white population upon which the Confederate Government had to depend to fill the ranks of its armies was under 5,000,000, while the Washington Government had a white population of more than 20,000,000 to draw its soldiers from, besides unlimited facilities for recruiting in foreign countries. ”

“ This latter number constituted the whole force brought by Holmes from his department after Seven Pines, even if the cavalry and artillery belonged to it. On page 270, in speaking of the charge of his brigade, the first it had been in, Lawton says: "A continuous line of thirty-five hundred men moving forward in perfect order into the wood, and at once opening fire along its entire length (chiefly armed with Enfield rifles) , made a decided impression, and promptly marked the preponderance of musketry sound on our side, as was observed by other commanders on the field." ”

“ In a roster of Longstreet's corps, published in the Banner of the South, by General Alexander, the history of the regiments composing Drayton's brigade is given. Coming to Virginia after the Seven Days Battles it, of course, had no effect in increasing General Lee's numbers at these battles. There is some strange mistake on your part, or that of General Drayton, about the brigade. If it had 7,000 men in it when it came here, then the three regiments and the battalion composing it must have averaged 1,750 men each. ”

“ The Second Virginia cavalry came with Jackson, and the fact is that the whole command that came from the Valley, including the artillery, the regiment of cavalry, and the Maryland regiment and a battery, then known as the "Maryland Line," could not have exceeded eight thousand men. ”

“ There may have been that number of men borne upon the rolls of the brigade, but we have General Ripley's official report of the number of troops under his command that actually took part in the battles around Richmond. ”

“ We have been several times urged, by those whose opinions are entitled to weight, to give the discussion a place in our Papers, in order that it may be preserved. We do so without note or comment, leaving our readers to draw their own conclusions. ”

“ Trimble's and Taylor's brigades were smaller than Elzey's, having four regiments each and an extra battalion in Taylor's; though there is a strange inconsistency in General Trimble's reports, which, doubtless, is the result of an error in copying or printing. In his report of Cross Keys, page 80, volume I., he says: "My three regiments [Fifteenth Alabama, Sixteenth Mississippi, and Twenty-first Georgia] , counting 1,348 men and officers, repulsed the brigade of Blenker three times." His other regiment (the Twenty-first North Carolina) was not engaged, and his loss was 54. ”

“ Winder, in command of the Stonewall brigade, states, in his report of Port Republic, that "the total strength of the brigade was one thousand three hundred and thirty-four, rank and file." There were five regiments in that brigade, and only six and a battalion in the other two brigades of the division. ”

“ General Holmes, on page 151, gives his strength of all arms at 6,573. This, of course, is exclusive of Ransom, who was with Huger. Of Huger's division, Ransom gives his strength at 3,000, which, with the 130 previously lost, makes 3,130. Mahone puts his strength (page 371) at 1,800. Armistead only states his strength partially, but shows that after getting the Fifty-seventh Virginia from Walker's brigade, his own brigade was very small. Wright puts his strength at 2,000 (page 385) . Give Armistead 2,000, which is a very liberal estimate, and Huger's strength will be 8,930. ”

“ Of the 11,866 men estimated by Colonel Marshall, General Ripley's 2,300, and 3,000 of General Holmes', reached Richmond before General Lee commanded. According to this our zealous and vigorous leader kept his army inactive twenty-six days waiting for 6,500 men, while his enemy was receiving 19,000 (see McClellan's return of June 20th, volume 1, page 337, Report of the Committee on the Conduct of the War) —Dix's and McCall's divisions—and covering his front south of the Chickahominy with entrenchments. ”

“ Holmes says the infantry of Daniel's brigade was 1,570 strong. On page 319 Wise put his infantry at 814 and his artillery at 147—aggregate, 961. This brigade properly belonged or had belonged to Huger's division, and did not constitute a part of the troops brought by Holmes to the army. Holmes says the battalion of cavalry numbered 130 men ”

“ The other brigade commanders do not give their strength. Field's brigade was a small one, Gregg's not large, and Anderson's and Branch's were perhaps about the size of Pender's. Give the latter 2,500 each, and Field and Gregg 2,000 each, and we have for A. P. Hill's strength 12,628—say 13,000. Lawton's brigade was 3,500. Whiting's strength is not given, but his brigades were small—give 2,000 for each; and then, with Jackson's and Ewell's 8,000, we will have: Longstreet, 9,051; D. H. Hill, 10,000; Magruder, 13,000; Holmes, 6,573; Huger, 8,930; A. P. Hill, 13,000; Whiting, 4,000; Lawton, 3,500 ”