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[173] cavalry, and we have 100,900 for Meade's fighting strength for actual line of battle. Why, in all fairness, did not General Doubleday take this return of June 30 for the Federal strength, or show cause for rejecting it in favor of the speculations of the Count of Paris, made evidently without a knowledge of it?

It is a more difficult matter to arrive with exactness at General Lee's strength, because no return of his army has been found later than May 31. At that date his “Present for duty” was 64,159 infantry and artillery, and 10,292 cavalry--total 74,451. Between that date and July 1, Corse's brigade of five regiments, and three regiments of Early's division, that had been included in this return, were detached, and left behind in Virginia, while Pettigrew's brigade of four regiments, two regiments that had been in West Virginia, and “perhaps two other regiments in Davis' newly formed brigade,” had been added to Lee's infantry. These infantry additions may be taken as off-setting the infantry detached, and therefore not affecting the question. Besides these changes there were added to Lee's army the two cavalry brigades of Jenkins and Imboden. Both the Count of Paris and Colonel Taylor, of General Lee's staff, estimate the strength of three cavalry brigades at 3,000 men.

The Count and some other writers, have imagined, without a single fact on which to base the supposition, that the Confederate army was increased by the return of sick and deserters, and by the arrival of conscripts during the month of June, though it was engaged in an active campaign, and was moving from its own base into hostile territory. General Early clearly shows in the article above referred to, that this was not so, and that on the contrary his own division lost from sickness and straggling ten per cent. of its strength between May 31 and June 30, and by July 1 it had probably decreased fifteen per cent. The return of Rodes's division made at Carlisle a few days before the battle, shows a decrease of five per cent. in his strength as compared with May 31. These are the only two divisions whose returns near the date of the battle have been found, so far as I know. To sum up — Stuart's cavalry was increased by 3,000 after May 31, but like the Federal cavalry had been seriously lessened by severe marching and fighting. If the Federal cavalry could only muster 12,000 out of 16,000 on July 1, Stuart could not have had over 10,000 or 11,000 out of 13,300. But of Stuart's seven brigades three (Robertson's, Jones's and Imboden's) were not present at Gettysburg, having been engaged (like French's Federal division at Frederick, which is not included in

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