A.
An extract from a letter of Gen. Marcus J. Wright to Thomas Nelson Page, author of “Robert E. Lee the Southerner,” dated September 26, 1907, says:
From all reliable data that could be secured, it has been estimated by the best authorities that the strength of the Confederate armies was about 600,000 men, and of this number not more than two-thirds were available for active duty in the field. The necessity of guarding a long line of exposed seacoast and of maintaining permanent garrisons at different posts on inland waters and at numerous other points deprived the Confederate army in the field of an accession of strength. The large preponderance of Federal forces was manifest in all the important battles and campaigns of the war. The largest force ever assembled by the Confederates was at the Seven Days’ fight around Richmond.
General Lee’s report showed 80,835 men present for duty when the movement against General McClellan commenced, and the Federal forces numbered 115,240.
At Antietam the Federals had 87,164, and the Confederates had 35,255.
At Fredericksburg the Federals had 110,000, and the Confederates had 78,110.
At Chancellorsville the Federals had 131,661, of which number only 90,000 were engaged, and the Confederates had 57,212.
At Gettysburg the Federals had 95,000, and the Confederates had 44,000.
At the Wilderness the Federals had 141,160, and the Confederates had 63,981.
In the six battles named the Confederates were victorious in four of them, while the Federals were victors in one, and one was a drawn battle.