67th Tigers
Captain
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2006
Lee, in his correspondence to Davis wrote about the severe straggling that occurred before he crossed into Maryland; there are also a number of other reports of the large quantity of stragglers roaming over northern Virginia. This evidence indicates that straggling mostly occurred before the crossing. Lee may have had ~72,000 on paper as of September 1, but the actual force that crossed the river was quite a bit smaller.
Yes, and they reduced his numbers down to "only" 75,000 instead of the >150,000 he had on paper*. That's what he was talking about.
The first complete post-Antietam (10th October) return gives:
154,888 Total strength
78,204 Physically present with the army
64,273 Combat effective
Lee is primarily concerned with where 76,684 men, half his army, actually are. Of those only a little over 20,000 are in the hospital system, leaving ca. 55,000 men who are absent for no good reason. These "estrays" are what Lee talks about, not temporary straggling on campaign.
* Probably around 160,000 given the KIA etc. or even 180,000 if you include the division he left at Richmond during the campaign.