"It will be difficult to get the world to understand the odds against which we fought;" and he has since in person assured me that the estimate which I had made of his force, in a published letter written from Havana in December, 1865, and in my published account of my own operations for the years 1864-'5 which—was 50,000—exceeded the actual efficient strength of his army.
The returns of the Army of Northern Virginia, which are in what is called the "Archive Office" at Washington, are not accessible to me; but I have a printed copy of a letter written to the New York Tribune in June, 1867, which gives statements taken from the returns of the Confederate armies on file in said "Archive Office," which letter is understood to have been written by Mr. Swinton, the author of "The Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac." I end that copy to you, in order that you may verify, by an examination of it, all my statements; and, if I appear a little prolix and tedious, I beg you to be patient, as I desire to show to you and your readers how officers of the United States army manufacture history.
In the first column of the letter to the Tribune you will find a table of monthly returns for the Department of Northern Virginia, which is in the following words and figures:
| DATE. | COMMANDER. | FOR DUTY. | PRESENT. | PRESENT AND ABSENT. | |
| 1862— | February | J. E. Johnston | 47,617 | 55,396 | 84,225 |
| May | J. E. Johnston | [67,000] | |||
| June | R. E. Lee | [100,000] | |||
| July | R. E. Lee | 69,559 | 94,686 | 137,030 | |
| August | R. E. Lee | [95,000] | |||
| September | R. E. Lee | 52,609 | 62,713 | 139,143 | |
| October | R. E. Lee | 67,805 | 79,395 | 153,778 | |
| November | R. E. Lee | 73,554 | 86,583 | 153,790 | |
| December | R. E. Lee | 79,072 | 91,094 | 152,853 | |
| 1863— | January | R. E. Lee | 72,226 | 93,297 | 144,605 |
| February | R. E. Lee | 58,559 | 74,435 | 114,175 | |
| March | R. E. Lee | 60,298 | 73,578 | 109,839 | |
| May | R. E. Lee | 68,352 | 88,756 | 133,679 | |
| June | R. E. Lee | [100,000] | |||
| July | R. E. Lee | 41,135 | 53,611 | 117,602 | |
| August | R. E. Lee | 56,327 | 71,964 | 133,264 | |
| September | R. E. Lee | 44,367 | 55,221 | 95,164 | |
| October | R. E. Lee | 45,614 | 57,251 | 97,211 | |
| November | R. E. Lee | 48,267 | 56,088 | 96,576 | |
| December | R. E. Lee | 43,558 | 54,715 | 91,253 | |
| 1864— | January | R. E. Lee | 35,849 | 45,139 | 79,602 |
| February | R. E. Lee | 33,811 | 39,562 | 68,435 | |
| March | R. E. Lee | 39,407 | 46,151 | 79,202 | |
| * | April | R. E. Lee | 52,626 | 61,218 | 97,576 |
| June | R. E. Lee | 51,863 | 62,571 | 92,685 | |
| July | R. E. Lee | 57,097 | 68,844 | 135,805 | |
| August | R. E. Lee | 44,247 | 58,984 | 146,838 | |
| October | R. E. Lee | 62,875 | 82,535 | 177,103 | |
| November | R. E. Lee | 69,290 | 87,860 | 181,826 | |
| December | R. E. Lee | 66,533 | 79,318 | 155,772 | |
| 1865— | January | R. E. Lee | 53,445 | 69,673 | 441,627 |
| February | R. E. Lee | 59,094 | 73,349 | 160,411 | |
