674
At Sharpsburg he had hardly 37,000 men, £ who were in poor condition forbattle, while McClellan had about 87,000, who were fresh and strong.
The next year, when on our way to Gettysburg , there was the same situa-tion of affairs at Harper’s Ferry , but we let it alone.
General Lee was not satisfied with the result of the Maryland campaign,and seemed inclined to attribute the failure to the Lost Dispatch; though I be-lieve he was more inclined to attribute the loss of the dispatch to the fault of acourier or to other negligence than that of the officer to whom it was directed.
Our men came in so rapidly after the battle that renewed hope of gatheringhis army in great strength soon caused Lee to look for other and new pros-pects, and to lose sight of the lost campaign. But at Sharpsburg was sprungthe keystone of the arch upon which the Confederate cause rested. Jacksonwas quite satisfied with the campaign, as the Virginia papers made him thehero of Harper’s Ferry, although the greater danger was with McLaws , whoseservice was the severer and more important. Lee lost nearly 20,000 bystraggling in this campaign,— almost twice as many as were captured atHarper’s Ferry .
The battle casualties of Jackson’s command from the Rappahannock to thePotomac , according to the “Official Records,” were 4629, while mine, includingthose of R. H. Anderson’s division, were 4725, making in all, 9354. Thattaken from the army of 55,000 at the Second Manassas left a force of 45,646moving across the Potomac . To that number must be added the forces thatjoined us; namely, D. H. Hill with 5000, McLaws with 4000, and Walkerwith 2000. Thus Lee’s army on entering Maryland was made up of nearly57,000 men, exclusive of artillery and cavalry. As we had but 37,000 atSharpsburg, our losses in the several engagements after we crossed the Poto-mac , including stragglers , reached nearly 20,000. Our casualties in the affairsof the Maryland campaign, including Sharpsburg, were 13,964. Estimatingthe casualties in the Maryland campaign preceding Sharpsburg at 2000, it willbe seen that we lost at Sharpsburg 11,000 to 12,000. Only a glance at thesefigures is necessary to impress one with the number of those who were unableto stand the long and rapid marches, and fell by the wayside, viz., 8000 to9000. The Virginians who have written of the war have often charged the lossof the Maryland campaign to “ laggards.” It is unkind to apply such a termto our soldiers, who were as patient, courageous, and chivalrous as any evermarshaled into phalanx. Many were just out of the hospitals, and many morewere crippled by injuries received in battle. They were marching withoutsufficient food or clothing, with their muskets, ammunition, provisions, and infact their all, packed upon their backs. They struggled along with bleedingfeet, tramping rugged mountain roads through a heated season. Such soldiersshould not be called “ laggards ” by their countrymen. Let them have theirwell-earned honors though the fame of others suffer thereby.