Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 04.djvu/159

Rh

June, 1877.

Rev. D. D.,

Secretary Southern Historical Society:

, referring to the invasion of Pennsylvania in 1863, says: " The Army of Northern Virginia, when it invaded the Northern States, was more powerful than it had ever been before." If, in using the term "more powerful," means that the numerical strength of the Army of Northern Virginia, on this occasion, was greater than ever before, he is wrong, as the subjoined statement of the strength of that army, taken from the official returns now on file in Washington, will show: It has been said that the morale of an army is to numbers as three to one. If this be correct the Army of Northern Virginia was never stronger than on entering Pennsylvania, and I am perfectly satisfied in my own mind, that this fact entered very largely in determining General Lee to make the attack on the 3d of July, at Gettysburg; for there was not an officer or soldier in the Army of Northern Virginia, from General Lee to the drummer boy, who did not believe, when we invaded Pennsylvania in 1863, that it