lation of the Confederacy," which I heartily commend to the reader. If we make the "necessary deductions" on all accounts, we can reduce the figure given as "the fighting army" to 620,000, which is but little more than the number given above. Gen. Adams attempts to support his opinion by figures taken from "The South in the Building of the Nation" (McKim, p. 48), but, says Dr. McKim (p. 52), "it can be shown, I think, beyond contradiction, that the numbers given by the representatives of the various States, which Mr. Adams quotes from "The South," and from other Southern publications are "enormously exaggerated," and he proceeds to show it. The writers are not always accurate, even granting them every disposition to be fair. At this late day, it ought certainly to be possible for Northern and Southern writers to agree as to numbers. Neither side now desires to underrate the fighting ability of the other, but it doesn't stand to reason that any two countries with the respective numbers and resources of the Northern and the Southern States could have expected a different result.
Since this article was written, Gen. Adams has passed away. The writer had the pleasure of meeting him once, at the meeting in Richmond a few years ago of the American Historical Association, of which at that time we were both members, and it was the last time that this writer has attended a meeting of that Association. I should have taken pleasure hi discussing this subject at a future meeting, but that meeting must now be adjourned to a future world, in which, I trust, we can discuss the subject amicably at least.
