THE ARMY OF NORTH-WESTERN VIRGINIA AT THE CLOSE OF THE
SECOND YEAR'S WAR.
As the year closed, it was asserted both in the North and South that
General Lee's army was rapidly dwindling away from desertion. This
elicited a reply from the Commander-in-Chief, in which he likened the
sufferings of that army to those of the French in their retreat from Moscow,
and closed with the tribute: "This army cut and fought its way to the
Potomac, crossed that stream, moved on to Frederick and Hagerstown, had
a heavy engagement at Boonesboro, another at Crampton's Gap, fought the
greatest pitched battle of the war at Antietam, and then recrossed the
Potomac into Virginia. During all this time, covering the full space
of a month, the troops rested but four days. And let it be always remembered
to their honor that of the men who performed this wonderful
feat, one-fifth were barefooted, one-half in rags, and the whole half-famished.
* * * * Their difficulties were increased by the fact that
cooking utensils in many cases had been left behind, as well as everything
else that would impede their movements. It was not unusual to
see a company 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 in the time allowed them.
"Do you wonder, then, that there should have been 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 roadsides?
Or that many seasoned veterans—the conquerors in the Valley,
at Richmond and at Manassas—should have succumbed to disease, and
been forced back to the hospital? * * * * That there has been unnecessary
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 ever accomplished as much or suffered as much as the Army
of Northern Virginia within the last three months. At no period during
the first Revolutionary war, not even at Valley Forge, did our forefathers
in arms encounter greater hardships or endure them more uncomplainingly."
