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Some expeditions were made by bodies of Federal troops to towns in the northern part of the State, during which many skirmishes occurred. The town of Athens was one of the last in this part of the State to accede to the Confederacy. The threats of devastation by the neighboring town caused this change. Subsequently a body of Federal toops belonging to the brigade of Col. Turchin, were retiring from the town, about the 10th of May, when some of the citizens cheered. The soldiers becoming provoked returned, and made a general onslaught upon the community; stores were sacked and dwellings plundered. The affair was subsequently investigated by a courtmartial at Huntsville, and a verdict found dismissing Col. Turchin from service. Previous to the session of the court a commission appointing him a brigadier-general was issued by President Lincoln. On the 25th of July, a guard at Courtland bridge, consisting of two Federal companies of the 10th Kentucky and one company of the 1st Ohio cavalry, were surprised and captured by a force of irregular cavalry. Some other small affairs occurred between the irregular troops of the State and outposts of the Federal forces.

The tax imposed by the Confederate Government in 1861, amounting to two millions of dollars, was paid by the State, and the Legislature also passed an act to guarantee the payment of a million and a half of Confederate bonds, and recommended a similar measure to the other states of the Confederacy.

ARGENTINE REPUBLIC, THE, is bounded on the north by Bolivia, on the east by the Paraguay and Uruguay rivers, south by the Atlantic and Rio Negro, and west by Chili. It lies between the 20th and 40th parallels of S. latitude and 56th and 70th degrees of W. longitude, and contains about 780,000 square miles. President, General Bartolomeo Mitré, elected 1862. Ever since the overthrow of the rule of the Dictator Rosas in 1853, the Argentine Republic has been a prey to internal dissensions. There were two great parties. The one, the old Federal party, sought to impart a kind of organization to the Argentine nationality, and succeeded for a moment in rallying upon this platform all the provinces save that of Buenos Ayres. The other party, the old Unitarians, had its centre in Buenos Ayres, which for some time maintained a separate existence. The constitution of the Argentine Confederacy was adopted in May, 1853, and provided for two chambers, a senate consisting of 30 members, and a house of representatives counting 51 deputies. Buenos Ayres was again united with the Argentine Republic by the peace of San José de Flores, Nov. 10, 1859, and by the act of union concluded June 6, 1860, at Parana. Hostilities between Buenos Ayres and the Argentine Confederacy recommenced in 1861. On Sept. 17. 1861, Gen. Mitré, of Buenos Ayres, defeated the Argentine troops at Pavon. In consequence of this victory, the President of the Argentine

Republic, Dr. Santiago Derqui, abdicated the presidency, and the national government was provisionally intrusted to General Mitré, who was charged with convoking a national congress on May 25, 1862, at Buenos Ayres, to which place the diplomatic corps, which had hitherto resided in Parana, transferred its residence. The congress adopted a new constitution, which provided for the federalization of the city of Buenos Ayres, its relation to the Confederacy being made similar to the relation of the District of Columbia to the United States. The province of Buenos Ayres, however, elects a governor, but his jurisdiction is only "extra-mural," the city being exempt from it. The congress elected Gen. Mitré first president of the reunited Argentine Republic, and he was installed on October 14. Since that time the republic has enjoyed a permanent peace, and both the people and the men in power appear intent on peace"ful and industrial improvement.

The republic, as now constituted, embraces 14 provinces, the names, subdivisions, area, and population of which are as follows:

NAMES

OF PROVINCES.

Juguy

Salta...

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9 1,577 83,200 Juguy. 16 2,985 66,600 Salta... 81,683 50,000 Catamarca 91,100 88,500 Tucuman.. 81,825 60,000 Santiago. 17 2,138 85,000 Corrientes 71,463 84,500 La Rioja.. 14 2,775 180,000 Cordova 41,180 40,000 Santa Fé. 10 1,409 80,000 Parana... 4 888 62,000! San Juan 8 1,136 82,000 San Luis. 81,444 60,000 Mendoza..

6,900

11,300

12,000

11,000

6,000

16,000

4,000

25,000

15,000

8,000

20,000

5,000

18,000

Catamarca..
Tucuman
Santiago
Corrientes.
La Rioja...
Cordova..
Santa Fé.
Entre Rios..
San Juan..
San Luis..
Mendoza.
Buenos Ayres... 51 8,933 850,000 Buenos Ayres.. 120,000

Besides these provinces, the territory of the republic comprises the district Gran Chaco, with 6,667 geographical square miles and about 100,000 free Indians, and the Southern Desert as far as the Rio Negro, with 8,967 square miles.

ARKANSAS, one of the southwestern States, is west of the Mississippi river and south of the State of Missouri. Its population, according to the census of 1860, was 435,450, of whom 324,191 were whites; free colored, 144; slaves, 111,115. The ratio of increase from 1850 to 1860 was, whites, 99.88; free colored, 81.25; slaves, 135.91. The number of each sex of the white population was: males, 171,447; females, 152,666. The number of manumitted slaves was 41; fugitives, 28. The mortality in the State for the year ending May 31, 1860, was 8,860. Consumption, fever, and pneumonia were the most fatal diseases. The number of deaf and dumb in the State was 142, of whom 15 were slaves. The product of iron founderies during 1860 was valued at $52,000. The value of sawed and planed lumber, $1,033,185. The number of gallons of spirituous liquors distilled in the year ending June 1, 1860, was 8,500, valued at $6,125. Value of leather produced, $115,375. Number of acres of improved land,

1,933,036; do. unimproved, 7,609,938. The cash value of farms was $91,673,409. Number of horses, 101,249; mules, 44,458; milch cows, 158,873; working oxen, 70,944; sheep, 202,674; swine, 1,155,379. Value of live stock, $22,040,211. Wheat, 955,298 bushels; rye, 77,869 bushels; corn, 17,758,665 bushels; oats, 502,866 bushels; tobacco, 999,757 pounds; cotton, 867,485 bales, of 400 pounds each; wool, 410,285 pounds; peas and beans, 439,412 bushels; Irish potatoes, 418,000 bushels; sweet potatoes, 1,462,714 bushels; barley, 3,079 bushels. Value of home-made manufactures, $928,481. Railroads, 38 miles.

The military movements of the Federal troops at the West in the beginning of the year excited great apprehensions in Arkansas. Already twenty-five regiments and six battalions of infantry and cavalry and ten companies of artillery, amounting to 21,500, had been sent to the Confederate army for the war. On the 18th of February Governor Rector issued a proclamation calling into immediate service every man in the State subject to military duty. They were required to appear within twenty days. On the same day a despatch from St. Louis to Washington, sent by Gen. Halleck, announced that Gen. Curtis had driven Gen. Price from Missouri into Arkansas, and that "the flag of the Union is floating in Arkansas." At the same time the commandant at Pocahontas, a short distance southeast of the position of the Federal forces under Gen. Curtis, becoming alarmed, issued the following appeal to the people:

POCAHONTAS, ARK., Feb. 26, 1862. Reliable information has just been received by me that the enemy, 16,000 strong, left Greenville, Mo., on Saturday last, for the purpose of attacking Pocahontas. It now becomes the duty of every man to turn out promptly, shoulder his musket, and drive the Vandals This is probably the advance guard of a much larger force of the enemy. Come without delay, singly or in squads, and rendezvous in Jacksonport. Bring as few horses as possible, as forage is scarce.

from the State.

MAJOR KEYWORTH, Com'g.

The Confederate force, retiring before Gen. Curtis, abandoned Mudtown. They were subsequently charged with having poisoned the provisions not taken away and the wells of the town. It was reported to Gen. Halleck that forty-two officers and men were thereby poisoned, whereupon he issued, on the 28th of February, an order, saying:

We cannot retaliate by adopting the same barbarous mode of warfare, nor can we retaliate by punishing the innocent for the acts of the guilty. The laws of war forbid this, but the same code authorizes us to retaliate upon the guilty parties.

Persons guilty of such acts, when captured, will not be treated as ordinary prisoners of war, nor will they be shot, but will suffer the ignominious punishment of being hung as felons. Officers are in a measure responsible for the acts of their troops. Officers of troops guilty of such acts, although not themselves the advisers or abettors of the crime, will, when captured, be put in irons and conveyed as criminals to these headquarters. The laws of war make it their duty to prevent such barbarities, and if they neglect that duty they must suffer the consequences.

For the important military movements in the State, see ARMY OPERATIONS. It was beyond the power of the Confederate Government to send aid to Arkansas, and the State was forced to rely upon its own resources and such aid as might be obtained from Missouri, the Indian territory, and Texas. This state of affairs induced the governor, in May, to issue an address to the people, in which his indignation is expressed in these words:

It was for liberty that Arkansas struck, and not for subordination to any created secondary power, north or south. Her best friends are her natural allies, nearest at home, who will pulsate when she bleeds, whose utof the Confederate heart do not permeate beyond the most hope is not beyond her existence. If the arteries east bank of the Mississippi, let southern Missourians, Arkansians, Texans, and the great West know it and prepare for the future. Arkansas lost, abandoned, subjugated, is not Arkansas as she entered the Confederate Government. Nor will she remain Arkansas, a Confederate State, desolated as a wilderness. Her children, fleeing from the wrath to come, will build them a new ark, and launch it on new waters, seeking a haven somewhere of equality, safety, and rest.

After the military movements in the northwestern part of the State, including the battle of Pea Ridge, Gen. Curtis moved to the White river, and occupied Batesville about the 1st of May. Here he was met by many demonstrations of attachment to the Union. Many citizens came forward and took the oath of allegiance to the United States; these were judges of courts, clergymen, and citizens holding positions of influence. His advance being pushed forward on the road to Little Rock, a great excitement was produced there. The governor issued a proclamation calling upon the State militia to repair immediately to its defence. Finding himself not sufficiently supported, Gov. Rector fled, and the State was left without any executive government. Martial law was then declared by Brig.-Gen. Roane, commanding the department, and George C. Watkins was appointed provost marshal. The weakness of Arkansas at this moment was caused by the concentration of all the Confederate military strength at Corinth, and her fate was as much involved in the security of that position as the fate of Tennessee or Mississippi. But while the forces of Arkansas were taken to defend Corinth, ten regiments were taken from Gen. Curtis to reënforce the Federal troops attacking it. This left him in no condition to march upon Little Rock, and the capital of the State thus escaped being captured.

On the 19th of May a skirmish took place near Searcy, between one hundred and fifty men of Col. (acting Brig.-Gen.) Osterhaus's division and a State force under Cols. Coleman and Hicks.

The loss was small on both sides. Other skirmishes occurred. during the march of Gen. Curtis from Batesville to Helena, of small importance. Bridges were burned by the Arkansas troops across Bayou Des Arc and Cypress river, and about ten thousand bales of cotton on the Arkansas river, and all the cotton sugar at Jacksonport. By the first of June,

and

twelve thousand men were collected at Little Rock in answer to the call of the governor, but were very destitute of arms. The State records, however, had been removed to Arkadelphia. After Gen. Curtis had occupied Helena, the Federal Government appointed John S. Phelps of Missouri military governor, and Col. Wm. F. Switzler secretary for Arkansas. He left St. Louis on Aug. 19, for Helena. It was contemplated at this time that a movement on Little Rock would be made. This however was not done, and the office of governor became of little importance. Two regiments were organized at Helena, composed of citizens of Arkansas; they were chiefly men who had suffered in consequence of their attachment to the Union, and were refugees.

The legislative proceedings in Arkansas possess little interest.' An act was passed imposing a tax of thirty dollars per bale on cotton. The object was to favor the cultivation of grain and to discourage that of cotton.

At the State election in August, Flanagan was chosen governor. The opposing candidate was Governor Rector. On the day of inauguration the 1st Monday in November, the governor elect being absent in the army, the duties of the office devolved upon Mr. Fletcher, the president of the senate. An animated contest took place between B. C. Johnson and Augustus H. Garland for the senatorship in the Confederate Congress. Mr. Johnson was elected.

The loss of all communication with the North and foreign countries, stimulated the domestic manufactures of the State. At the close of the year there was in operation a tobacco factory at Burtonville; a large cotton factory in Washington county; another for cotton and wool at Van Buren, Crawford county, another at Norristown, Pope county; another in Pike county. Large saltpetre works were set up in Newton county; and in Independence county some fine caves of the same article were mined. Lead mines in Newton and Sevier counties were worked. Salt was made on the White river, and also near the Louisiana State line. Works on the Washita, with an unlimited supply of brine, commenced vigorous operations. A cannon foundery was at work at Camden; two founderies at Little Rock were at work, one of which furnishes grapeshot for the army. At Hopefield, opposite Memphis, the machine shop of the Memphis and Little Rock railroad was turned into an armory for altering and repairing guns. Several extensive tanneries were commenced in various parts of the State. The State arsenal at Little Rock was converted into an armory for the use of the Confederate Government. At the State penitentiary, gun carriages, caissons, wagons, boots and shoes, clothing, and other material for the army were manufactured. ARMY, CONFEDERATE. The policy usually adopted by countries between which hostilities exist, to conceal from each other not only their military plans, but especially the strength of the forces by which they are to be executed,

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has been very carefully pursued by the Confederate Government. No precise statement of its forces in the field has ever been published, or any such details as would enable the United States Government to form an accurate estimate of their numbers. In all the military operations of the Confederate States, large, and probably exaggerated statements of the numbers of men have been made before action, which have been greatly reduced after a conflict. It is also impossible for the most unprejudiced observer to form a correct estimate of the numbers of men from the mere appearance of an army. These circumstances have rendered it difficult to state with precision the number of Southern troops which have been actually brought into service. The entire white population of the States comprising the Confederacy, by the census of 1860, was as follows:

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This statement of the population includes the whole of Virginia and the whole of Tennessee. A statement of the population made in the Confederate States, for an estimate of the effects of conscription embraces only one half of Virginia, and two thirds of Tennessee. A statement, however, including all of Virginia and Tennessee, and excluding aid received from Kentucky and Missouri, somewhat exceeds the available force of the Confederate Government. According to the census of 1850 the population of the United States between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five was fifteen per cent. of the aggregate population. Under this ratio the males between those ages in the Confederate States, by the census of 1860, were 817,419. The estimate made in the Confederate States on this basis was for a white population of 5,015,618. The number between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five was put at 752,342. It was also estimated that the volunteers offering who were not embraced in these ages, together with those from Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri, would make the aggregate soldiery of the Confederacy reach the number of 800,000. It has been generally supposed that the number of volunteers under eighteen and over thirty-five, including also those from Kentucky and Missouri, was large. The Confederate estimates make it about 50,000. From the male population be tween the ages of eighteen and thirty-five in 1860, amounting to 817,419 if the entire population of the States which have joined the Confederacy is estimated; and amounting to 752,342 if only the population is estimated, which was under the control of the Confederate Government on the 16th of April, when the conscrip

tion act was passed; there is to be a deduction for those who were not able bodied, or who were exempt from service. This deduction would amount to fifteen per cent. If this deduction is made on the Confederate estimate of 752,342, it is 112,851, and leaves the number of able-bodied men 639,491, to which fifty thousand should be added for volunteers under and above the prescribed ages, and also from Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, making the total 689,491. If the deduction of fifteen per cent. is made from the whole population of the Confederate States within the prescribed ages in 1860, viz., 817,419, it is 122,612, and leaves 694,807, with no additions to be made for volunteers from other States or of other ages. The troops furnished by the States at the close of 1861 with their quotas were nearly as follows:

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These volunteers were mostly for twelve months. To these troops in the Confederate service should be added the militia force called out in Georgia, and the volunteers from Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, making the entire force about 350,000.

On the 1st of February the President called upon the States for an additional quota of troops: Mississippi, 7 regiments; Alabama, 12; North Carolina, 5; Georgia, 12,000 men, &c. The governors resorted to threats of a draft, and the quotas were completed. The original force had been reduced by sickness and the casualties of war to such an extent, that when the Federal armies commenced operations in February and March, 1862, the Confederate Government was entirely unprepared to

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resist them. The first disasters showed to the Government and people their real weakness. Soon after the session of Congress commenced under the Permanent Government, President Davis sent in a Message urging the passage of a conscription act. One was passed on the 16th of April, which declared every man, with a few exceptions, between the ages of 18 and 35 years, a soldier. (See CONFEDERATE STATES.) Thirty days were allowed in which to volunteer, after which the law took absolute effect. All contracts with volunteers were annulled, and those over 35 and under 18 years were required to continue in the service 90 days after their term of enlistment expired. Before the ninety days expired an order from the Secretary of War extended the time of service. This conscript act thus brought out the full number liable to conscription, 639,491, reduced by the losses of war and sickness, exemptions, and desertions up to midsummer 1862, which reduction was not less than 100,000 men, and probably near 200,000. The weakness of the Confederate armies was however so sensibly felt, that the press publicly declared in the middle of August that the Confederacy had not 300,000 effective men in the field, and Congress, in October, passed a second conscription act, by which the President was authorized to call into the field all men between the ages of 35 and 45 years. The act provided that only such portions of this conscription should be called out as the President deemed necessary. By the 1st of November the Secretary of War issued an order for the enrolment of all persons, except exempts, between 18 and 45 years of age. This law was declared to be "odious to a large class of the people." A few regiments of Indians have been brought into the field, but they have proved so troublesome that the experiment has not been tried any further.

The following is an official list of general officers in the service in August, 1862. The major and brigadier generals are said to belong to the Provisional Army, their commissions having been granted under the Provisional Government, or prior to 1862:

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Virginia.

Thomas J. Jackson

Virginia.

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Robert E. Lee......................................
Adjutant and Inspector-General.
Samuel Cooper..............
Quartermaster-General.

A. C. Myers..

Larkin Smith (Assistant).

Chief of Ordnance.

*Benjamin Huger......South Carolina.

Generals-Regular Army.

Joseph E. Johnston......

Virginia. ...Virginia.

Virginia.

*Mansfield Lovell...District Columbia.
*E. Kirby Smith (rel'd)........ Florida.
William W. Loring.....North Carolina.
Sterling Price..
*John P. McCown.

.......Missouri. Tennessee.

.....North Carolina.

.........

Daniel H. Hill..
*Richard S. Ewell.
*John C. Pemberton.
Ambrose P. Hill.
John C. Breckinridge..
Wm. S. Cheatham...

P. G. T. Beauregard.............. Louisiana. Thomas C. Hindman..

Virginia.
Virginia.

.Kentucky.

Virginia ..Georgia

Tennessee.

.Tennessee.

David R. Jones........South Carolina.

*Arnold Elzey... *Samuel Jones

C. C. Sibley (dead). Wm. H. C. Whiting. Daniel Ruggles.. Charles Clark.

Virginia.

Roswell S. Ripley.

Isaac R. Trimble.

.Tennessee. Arkansas.

.Maryland.

Virginia. .Maryland.

Virginia Louisiana. Georgia. Virginia. Mississippi.

.South Carolina.

*Paul O. Hebert.........

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Richard C. Gatlin.....North Carolina.

L. Pope Walker.. ......Louisiana.

Samuel Cooper..

Robert E. Lee..

Braxton Bragg...

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*Richard H. Anderson..South Carolina.
James E. B. Stewart..
Virginia.
*Simon B. Buckner.........Kentucky.
*James M. Withers...

.Alabama.

Brigadier-Generals.

Alabama.

.Georgia.

Albert B. Blanchard........Louisiana. *Gab. J. Rains (killed)......Kentucky. Lafayette McLaws.. Thomas F. Dayton.. South Carolina. *Lloyd Tilghman.. Kentucky.

Theo. N. Holmes......North Carolina. John B. Floyd (rel'd)............................Virginia. │*Nat. G. Evans.........South Carolina,

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..Kentucky. ..Tennessee.

Robert E. Garland (killed).... Virginia.
A. W. Reynolds...
Jenkins..

Pender

Edward W. Gantt..

Georgia.

Kentucky.

Solon Borland..

*Alexander P. Steuart.. ..Tennessee. *W. Montgomery Gardner.....Georgia. Richard B. Garnett..... Virginia. William Mahone..

Virginia.

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M. L. Smith

......

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Virginia South Carolina. .North Carolina. .Arkansas.

.Arkansas.

Mississippi.

Ripley. Ohio;
Leadbeater, Con-
necticut; S. G. French, New Jersey;
D. M. Frost.

CASUALTIES, &c.-Killed.-Maj.-Gen. A. S. Johnston, Texas, at Shiloh, April 6, 1862.

Brig. Gen. R. S. Garnett, Va., at Carrick's Ford, July 11, 1861.

Brig.-Gen. Bernard E. Bee, S. C., at .Virginia. Manassas, July 21, 1861. Virginia.

Brig.-Gen. F. K. Zollicoffer, Tenn., at

....Georgia. Somerset, January 19, 1862.

.Kentucky.

.Tennessee.

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Wade Hampton (dead)..South Carolina. A. G. Jenkins. .Virginia. .North Carolina.

Fields.

Martin..

*Fitz Hugh Lee............... .Virginia. John R. Jones.. .Virginia. ...Louisiana. .......Alabama. .......Kentucky.

James E. Slaughter..
Henry Hayes..
Henry W. Hilliard..
*Abraham Buford..

This list, numbering 187 generals, is divided among the several States as follows: Virginia, 31: South Carolina, 14; Georgia, 14; Kentucky, 11; Tennessee, 11; Louisiana, 9; North Carolina, 9; Alabama, 7; Mississippi, 5; Missouri, 5; Arkansas, 5; Texas, 4; Maryland, 3 District of Columbia, 2; Florida, 1; Unknown, 6.

The following were born in the North: Gen. S. Cooper, New York; Maj.-Gen. John C. Pemberton, Pennsylvania; Brig.-Gens. H. C. Whiting, A. B. Blanchard, Massachusetts; Johnson K. Duncan, Pennsylvania; R. S.

• Graduates of West Point.

The Confederate army in Virginia, near the close of the year, was in a most destitute condition. The following statement, dated at Winchester, Virginia, on September 26, was circulated through the Confederate States, as entirely reliable, and made the basis of appeals to the people to contribute to the relief of the soldiers:

I can recall no parallel instance in history, except Napoleon's disastrous retreat from Moscow, where an army has ever done more marching and fighting, under such great disadvantages, than Gen. Lee's has done since it left the banks of the James river.

This army proceeded directly to the line of the Rappabannock, and, moving out from that river, it fought its way to the Potomac, crossed the stream, and moved on to Frederick and Hagerstown, had a heavy engagement at Boonsboro' Gap, and another at Crampton Gap below, fought the greatest pitched battle of the war at Sharpsburg, and then recrossed the Potomac back into Virginia. During all this time, covering the full space of a month, the troops rested but four days! And let it always be remembered, to their honor, that of the men who performed this wonderful feat one fifth of them were barefooted, one half of them in rags, and the whole of them half famished. The country from the Rappahannock to the Potomac had been visited by the enemy with fire and sword, and our transportation was insufficient to keep the army supplied from so distant a base as Gordonsville; and, when provision trains would overtake the army, so pressing were the exigencies of their position, the men seldom had time to cook. Their difficulties were increased by the fact

Brig.-Gen. Ben McCulloch, Texas, at Pea Ridge, March 7, 1862.

Brig.-Gen. A. H. Gladden, La., at Shiloh, April 6, 1862.

Brig.-Gen. T. W. Ashby, at May, 1862.

Brig.-Gen. Robert Hatton, Tenn., st Seven Pines, May 31, 1862.

Brig.-Gen. Richard Griffith, Miss., before Kichmond, June 27, 1862. Brig. Gen. C. S. Winder, Md., at Cedar Mountain, August 9, 1862. Brig.-Gen. J. T. Hughes, Mo., at Independence, August, 1862.

Brig.-Gen. Robert E. Garland, Va., at South Mountain, September 14, 1562. Brig.-Gen. Starke, N. C., at Antietam, September 17, 1862.

Brig.-Gen. Law. O'B. Branch, N. C., at Antietam, September 17, 1862.

Brig.-Gen. Henry Little, Missouri, at Iuka, September 19, 1862. Total-15. Acting Brig-Gen. F. S. Bartow, Ga., at Manassas, July 21, 1861.

Acting Brig.-Gen. James McIntosh, at Pea Ridge, March 7, 1862. Total-13. Died.-Brig.- Gen. J. B. Grayson, Ky.; T. A. Flourney, Ark.; Philip St. George Cooke,* Va. (suicide)-8. Resigned.-Maj.-Gens. David E. Twiggs, Ga. (since dead); M. L. Bonham, S. C.; George B. Crittenden, Ky.; Brig.-Gens. H. R. Jackson, Ga.; T. T. Fauntleroy, Va.; G. W. Randolph, Va.; L. T. Wigfall, Texas; S. C. Anderson, Tenn.; J. R. Anderson, Va.; Albert Pike, Árk.; W. H. T. Walker, Ga.-11.

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 the time allowed to them. They could not procure even a piece of plank or a corn or flour sack upon which to work up their dough.

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 Manassas, should have succumbed to disease, and been forced back to the hospital? I look to hear a great outcry against the stragglers. Already lazy cavalrymen and dainty staff officers and quartermasters, who are mounted and can forage the country for something to eat, are condemning the weary private, who, notwithstanding his body may be covered with dust and perspiration, and his feet with stone bruises, is expected to trudge along under his knapsack and cartridge box, on an empty stomach, and never turn aside for a morsel of food to sustain his sinking limbs. Out upon such monstrous injustice! 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 every accomplished as much or suffered as much as the army of Northern Virginia within the last three months. At no period during the first Rev. olutionary War, not even at Valley Forge, did our

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