Page:A Memoir of the Last Year of the War for Independence in the Confederate States of America.djvu/17



On the 3rd of May, 1864, the positions of the Confederate Army under General Lee, and the Federal Army under Lieutenant-General Grant, in Virginia, were as follows: General Lee held the southern bank of the Rapidan River, in Orange county, with his right resting near the mouth of Mine Run, and his left extending to Liberty Mills on the road from Gordonsville (via Madison Court House) to the Shenandoah Valley; while the crossings of the river on the right, and the roads on the left were watched by cavalry. Ewell's corps was on the right, Hill's on the left, and two divisions of Longstreet's corps were encamped in the rear, near Gordonsville. Grant's army (composed of the Army of the Potomac under Meade, and the 9th corps under Burnside,) occupied the north banks of the Rapidan and Robertson rivers; the main body being encamped in Culpeper county, and on the Rappahannock River.

I am satisfied that General Lee's army did not exceed 50,000 effective men of all arms. The report of the Federal Secretary of War, Stanton, shows that the "available force present for duty, May 1st, 1864," in Grant's army, was 141,166, to-wit: In the Army of the Potomac 120,386, and in the 9th corps 20,780. The draft in the United States was being energetically enforced, and volunteering had been greatly stimulated by high bounties. The North-Western States had