Civil War History - The Eastern TheaterDiscuss any and all battles, movements, and events occuring in the Eastern Theater here! This includes any actions in tha area east of the Appalachian Mountains in the vicinity of the river capitals of Richmond and Washington D.C.
I am reading a book that indicates that General Lee lost 10% of his troops due to desertion before the battle of Antietam. I don't know if this is a reasonable estimate or not.
Here is a website that is pretty descriptive of both sides.
I am reading a book that indicates that General Lee lost 10% of his troops due to desertion before the battle of Antietam. I don't know if this is a reasonable estimate or not.
Here is a website that is pretty descriptive of both sides.
Yet another excellent link, Vareb. Thanks. In any group, army or not, there will be those who are not up to the commitment required. When things get tough, there will be more. When things get really tough, there will be more still. (Paragraph) The Yank and the Reb had the same problem: "I ought to be home with my family." So long as there was a chance to win and put the whole thing away, it was easy to stick it out. When it became obvious that there was no chance of winning anything, then you see desertions en masse. (Paragraph) It was ever thus and I don't see that it will ever change. Throw extreme privations into that given and you have incredible desertions. (We might remember that in the 1860s, it was not all that hard to disappear.) ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
I am reading a book that indicates that General Lee lost 10% of his troops due to desertion before the battle of Antietam. I don't know if this is a reasonable estimate or not.
Here is a website that is pretty descriptive of both sides.
On September 13, 1861, Lee reported to Jefferson Davis, "One great embarassment is the reduction of our ranks by straggling, which it seems impossible to prevent with our present regimental officers. Our ranks are very much diminished, I fear from a third to a half of our original numbers, though I have reason to hope that our casualties in battle will not exceed five thousand men."
Though Lee threw his regimental officers under the caisson blaming them for the straggling it would seem that he might have taken some of the blame on himself since on September 3, 1862, before moving into Maryland, he had informed Davis, "This army is not properly equipped for an invasion of an enemy's territory. It lacks much of the material of war, is feeble in transportation, the animals being much reduced, and the men are poorly provided with clothes, and in thousands of instances are destitute of shoes."
Despite this, Lee moved ahead and the result, per Clifford Dowdey, editor, The Wartime Papers of Robert E. Lee, "Of the 55,000 infantry he [Lee] took into Maryland, less than 40,000 were to be were available for combat when needed, as the army suffered the heaviest losses from straggling in its history."
Straggling, of course, ain't the same as desertion, but when it comes to the number of men available for a fight the short-term effect is the same.
Lewis Armistead was Provost-General to Lee at this point and this made his job quite frustrating.
I have heard that many "deserted" simply because they had signed up to defend Virginia and not to invade another state?
More likely that they just straggled. Armies routinely shrank while making marches in those days. Napoleon used to have divisions and corps that showed up for a battle after a hard march with 50% or more among the missing; they might show up a day or two or three later when the main formation stopped moving.
Also, soldiers of that day well knew from hard experience that good regimental officers meant straggling was kept to a minimum. It was one of the things Stonewall Jackson liked immediately about Dick Taylor when he showed up in the Valley. "Good" in this sense might mean the sort of officer who always knew what was going on and had an eye out to make sure what he didn't want, didn't happen; it doesn't necessarily mean "professional", although the pros often were better at it by virtue of training and experience.
Tim
__________________ "Let us, then, consider all attempts to weaken this Union, by maintaining that each state is separately and individually independent, as a species of political heresy, which can never benefit us, but may bring on us the most serious distresses."
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina, 1740-1824, Revolutionary War soldier, one of the authors of the US Constitution in 1787, speaking at the South Carolina Ratifying Convention in 1788.
I have heard that many "deserted" simply because they had signed up to defend Virginia and not to invade another state?
Lots of books on the various campaigns contain similar stories -- especially the Maryland Campaign, which was still fairly early.
No doubt, there is some evidence that some stragglers said that but a question if I may: If you didn't want to cross the river and get into the fight you knew was coming, what would you write home? "I hid in the woods until there was no one behind me."?
There are tales of some throwing away their shoes to have a good excuse for not keeping up with march.
Kinda takes some of the romance out of it, doesn't it?
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
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Desertion in Lee's army crossing the Potomac. 
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