14 



ARMY, CONFEDERATE. 



The Confederate army in Virginia, near the 

 close of the year, was in a most destitute con- 

 dition. The following statement, dated at Win- 

 chester, Virginia, on September 26, was cir- 

 culated through the Confederate States, as en- 

 tirely reliable, and made the basis of appeals 

 to the people to contribute to the relief of the 

 soldiers : 



I can recall no parallel instance in history, except 

 Napoleon's disastrous retreat from Moscow, where an 

 army has ever done more marching and fighting, un- 

 der such great disadvantages, than Gen. Lee's has 

 done since it left the banks of the James river. 



This army proceeded directly to the line of the Rap- 

 pahannock, and, moving out from that river, it fought 

 its way to the Potomac, crossed the stream, and moved 

 on to Frederick and Hagerstown, had a heavy engage- 

 ment at Boonsboro' Gap, and another at Crampton 

 Gap below, fought the greatest pitched battle of the 

 war at Sharpsburg, and then recrossed the Potomac 

 back into Virginia. During all this time, covering the 

 full space of a month, the troops rested but four days I 

 And let it always be remembered, to their honor, that 

 of the men who performed this wonderful feat one fifth 

 of them were barefooted, one half of them in rags, and 

 the whole of them half famished. The country from the 

 Rappahannock to the Potomac had been visited by the 

 enemy with tire and sword, and our transportation 

 was insufficient to keep the army supplied from so 

 distant a base as Gordonsville ; and, when provision 

 trains would overtake the army, so pressing were the 

 exigencies of their position, the men seldom had time 

 to cook. Their difficulties were increased by the fact 



that cooking utensils in many cases had been left be- 

 hind, as well as everything else that would impede 

 their movements. It was not unusual to see a com- 

 pany of starving men have a barrel of flour distributed 

 to them, which it was utterly impossible for them to 

 convert into bread with the means and the time al- 

 lowed to them. They could not procure even a piece 

 of plank or a corn or flour sack upon which to work up 

 their dough. 



Do you wonder, then, that there should have be^n 

 stragglers from the army ? that brave and true men 

 should have fallen out from sheer exhaustion, or in 

 their efforts to obtain a mouthful to eat along the road- 

 sides? Or that many seasoned veterans, the con- 

 querors in the valley, at Richmond and Manassas, 

 should have succumbed to disease, and been forced 

 back to the hospital ? I look to hear a great outcry 

 against the stragglers. Already lazy cavalrymen and 

 dainty staff officers and quartermasters, who are 

 mounted and can forage the country for something to 

 eat, are condemning the weary private, who, notwith- 

 standing his body may be covered with dust and per- 

 spiration, and his feet with stone bruises, is expected 

 to trudge along under his knapsack and cartridge box, 

 on an empty stomach, and never turn aside for a mor- 

 sel of food to sustain his sinking limbs. Out upon 

 such monstrous injustice ! That there has been unne- 

 cessary straggling is readily admitted ; but, in a large 

 majority of cases, the men have only to point to their 

 bleeding feet, tattered garments, and gaunt frames for 

 an answer to the unjust charge. No army on this 

 continent has every accomplished as much or suffered 

 as much as the army of Northern Virginia within the 

 last three months. At no period during the first Rev- 

 olutionary War, not even at Valley Forge, did our 



