From these figures of details in these States we may conservatively estimate the number of men detailed for various branches of work in the eleven States of the Confederacy as about 40,000.[10]
4.—The seceded States exclusive of West Va., according to the report of the War Department, furnished the United States armies with 55,000 men. These must also be deducted from the aggregate above stated.
5.—Then we must deduct, as General Adams acknowledges, from the aggregate number of men of military age as above (viz., 927,200, less 80,000 disloyal and 55,000 in U. S. army, leaving 792,200) twenty per cent. for those exempt on account of physical or mental disability, or 158,440. This is the usual percentage, though in the French and British armies it has been as high as thirty-three per cent.
6.—Natural death rate in two and a half years before being enrolled in army 11,055 (compare Livermore, p. 22).[11]
But it will be said, and justly, that although after May, 1862, at least one-fourth of the territory of the seceded States was not in control of the Confederate government, and therefore not available as a recruiting ground for its armies, nevertheless many thousands of men had enlisted in the Confederate armies previous to May, 1862. Now, it appears from General Cooper's official report that the aggregate number of men and officers enrolled in March, 1862, was 340,250. And so our question is, How large a proportion of this number is to be credited to that part of the Confederacy which by May, 1862, was occupied by the Federal armies? If we assume that the part of the country thus occupied furnished as large a proportion as the rest of the Confederacy (a large assumption), then, as the population of the occupied part is estimated to have been about one-fourth of the whole, we may suppose that it furnished the Confederate army one-fourth of the total 340,000; that is to say, 85,000 men. This is probably a very large assumption, but it may be accepted for the purposes of our calculation.
To sum up this part of the argument: Let it be granted that there was an available military population, first and last, in that part of the Confederacy not occupied by the Federal armies, of 927,200,
| To which may be added volunteers first year of war from territory occupied by Federal forces after May, 1862 | 85,000 |
| And also men from Border States | 75,000 |
| Aggregate | 1,087,200 |
Deductions from this as follows:
| Natural death rate in 2-1/2 years, beforebeing enrolled in army, 2-1/2% | 11,055 | |
| Southern men in U. S. army | 55,000 | |
| Disloyal, estimated | 80,000 | |
| Exempt for physical and mental disability:20% of the whole (after deductingthe two previous items) viz.792,200 | 158,440 | |
| 304,495 | ||
| Leaving available aggregate | 782,705 | [12] |
| Aggregate | 1,087,200 |
Now let us remember that out of this available aggregate (exaggerated though I believe the number to be), there had to be created for the service of the Confederate State three armies,—an army of soldiers, an army of civil servants and an army of industrial and agricultural workers. If we put the strength of the fighting army at 620,000, there will remain for the other two armies 162,000 men,—and we have seen grounds for believing that there were 40,000 soldiers detailed for special work, and 120,000 exempt as State officers, workmen in various occupations, agricultural and necessary purposes, mechanics, railway servants, etc. And it may be asked with confidence whether for all these manifold purposes one hundred and sixty-two thousand men can be considered an excessive or unreasonable number. To support the army in the field, to equip the civil governments of eleven great States, and to supply the life blood of civilization in a country of such vast extent as the Southern Confederacy, necessarily absorbed the energies of a great number of men.