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for moving one thousand men one hundred miles by rail was far less than the cost of marching the same number of men an equivalent distance over the roads of the country.
Unfortunately, however, campaign plans, more frequently than otherwise, called for long marches between points not connected by rail.
Water transportation was used by General McClellan to good advantage in beginning the Peninsula campaign; after that, the Army of the Potomac, once having made the acquaintance of Virginia mud, retained it to the end. The wagon roads of the Old Dominion were tested in all seasons and by every known form of conveyance.
A familiar accompaniment of the marching troops was the inevitable wagon train, carrying subsistence, ammunition, and clothing.
Twelve wagons to every thousand men had been Napoleon's rule on the march, but the highways of Europe undoubtedly permitted relatively heavier loads.
For the Army of the Potomac, twenty-five wagons per thousand men was not considered an excessive allowance.
No wonder these well-laden supply trains aroused the interest of daring bands of Confederate scouts!
Such prizes were well worth trying for.
When General Meade, with his army of one hundred and fifty thousand men, left Brandy Station, Virginia, in May, 1864, on his march to Petersburg, each soldier carried six days rations of hardtack, coffee, sugar, and salt.
The supply trains carried ten days rations of the same articles, and one day's ration of salt pork.
For the remainder of the meat ration, a supply of beef cattle on the hoof for thirteen days rations was driven along with the troops, but over separate roads.
General Thomas Wilson, who was Meade's chief commissary, directed the movements of this great herd of beef cattle by brigades and divisions.
The Federal service required an immense number of draft animals.
The Quartermaster's Department bought horses for the cavalry and artillery, and horses and mules for the trains.
In 1862, the Government owned approximately
Review of Reviews. New York. 1912.
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