Saphroneth
Lt. Colonel
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2017
No Confederate units had their enlistments expire during the campaign, to my knowledge, so there were none to deduct. I agree that deducting the units with expired enlistments is dubious, because they certainly fought in several battles - you can sort of make the argument that if 5,000 men left before Cold Harbor it's "like" only 11,000 men joined with 18th Corps instead of 16,000, but it's a bit questionable.I am not sure where Young was getting the 16,000 for Eighteenth Corps from, but assuming that that is accurate, that is approximately 196,384 officers and men PFD.
I don’t understand the relevance of the men mustering out? They served in the campaign. He did the same with Confederate units, I presume, no?
Young didn't reference 18th Corps' strength and there is no really accurate assessment. The best we have is a communication by Smith to Halleck:
My command consisted very nearly of 16,000 infantry, sixteen pieces of artillery, and one squadron of cavalry of about 100 men.
It does Young little credit to take this number and assume it's PFD without further assessment. It's quite possible Smith was quoting effectives!