[692] marches which the army had to make, and by the absence of those who, voluntarily or otherwise, remained behind during these marches. It is difficult to reckon precisely the number of the disabled, of stragglers, and of deserters that the army had lost during the month of June. Private information and the comparison of some figures lead us to believe that it was not very large, and did not exceed five per cent. of the effective force of the army—say three thousand seven hundred and fifty men in all. We can therefore estimate the diminution of the army at about three thousand seven hundred men on the one hand, and its increase on the other hand, by the addition of three brigades and some artillery, at seven thousand. We believe that the difference of seventeen hundred between these two figures must be lessened at least from one thousand to twelve hundred by the return of the sick and wounded and the arrival of a number of conscripts; that, consequently, the Army of Northern Virginia arrived on the battlefield of Gettysburg with about five thousand combatants more than it had on the 31st of May, 1863—that is to say, in the neighborhood of eighty thousand men. As we have done in regard to the Federal army in order to find out the amount of force really assembled on the battlefield, we will deduct the number of mounted men, which was increased by Jenkins' and Imboden's forces, and reduced in the same proportion,1 making about eleven thousand men; and we may conclude that during the first three days of July, 1863, Lee brought from sixty-eight to sixtynine thousand men and two hundred and fifty guns2 against the eighty-two or eighty-four thousand Unionists with three hundred guns collected on this battlefield. Meade had, therefore, from eighteen to nineteen thousand men more than his adversary—a superiority of nearly one-fourth, which, unfortunately for him, he was unable to turn to advantage,
The losses on both sides were nearly equal, and enormous for the number of combatants engaged, for they amounted to twentyseven per cent. on the side of the Federals, and more than
