Available force present for duty | 602,598 |
On detached service in the different military departments | 132,538 |
In field hospitals and unfit for duty | 85,628 |
In general hospitals or on sick leave | 143,419 |
Absent on furlough or as prisoners of war | 31,695 |
Absent without leave | 19,683 |
Grand aggregate | 965.591 |
"This force was augmented on the 1st of May, 1865, by enlistments, to the number of one million five hundred and sixteen of all arms, officers and men, (1,000,516)."
And again he says:—
"The aggregate quotas charged against the several States, under all calls made by the President of the United States, from the 15th day of April, 1861, to the 14th day of April, 1865, at which time drafting and recruiting ceased, was. | 2,759,049 |
"The aggregate number of men credited on the several calls, and put into service of the United States, in the army, navy, and marine corps, during the above period, was | 2,656,553 |
"Leaving a deficiency on all calls, when the war closed, of | 102,596 " |
This does not include that portion of the Federal forces consisting of the regular army, and the negro troops raised in the Southern States; which were not raised by calls on the States. It is impossible for me to state the number of troops called into the service of the Confederate Government during the war, as all its records fell into the hands of the United States authorities, or were destroyed, but I think I can safely assert that the "available force present for duty" in the Federal army, at the beginning or close of the last year of the war, exceeded the entire force called into the Confederate service during the whole war; and when it is considered that the troops called into the United States service during that time, numbered more than one-third of the entire free population of the Confederate States, men, women and children, the world can appreciate the profound ability of the leaders, and the great heroism of the soldiers, of that army which finally overcame the Confederate army, by the "mere attrition" of numbers, after a prolonged struggle of four years. They can be excelled only by the magnanimity of the conquerors.