This Number Was Reduced, From
Desertion And Other Causes, By 5,000 Men, Leaving 10,000 Men As The
Regular Army Of The United States.
In December, 1862, that is, from
January, 1861, to January, 1863, this army of 10,000 was increased to
800,000 soldiers actually in the service.
No doubt there are
exaggerations in some of these figures - the rosters were, doubtless, in
some cases filled with fictitious names, in order to procure the
bounties that were offered; but if we allow two-thirds as correct, we
find that a people who had an army of 10,000 men in 1861, had in two
years increased it to an army of 600,000 men. As to their munitions and
stock of war material at the opening of the war - that is to say, at the
date of the attack upon Fort Sumter - we find that they had of siege and
heavy guns 1,952; of field artillery, 231; of infantry firearms,
473,000; of cavalry firearms, 31,000; and of ball and shell, 363,000.
At the end of 1863, the latest period to which I have statistics upon
the subject, the 1,052 heavy guns had become 2,116; the 231 field
pieces had become 2,965; the 473,000 infantry arms had become
2,423,000; the 31,000 cavalry arms had become 369,000; and the 363,000
ball and shell had become 2,925,000. Now as to the navy of the United
States, I wish also to show that this wonderful development of war
power in the United States is the second warning we have had, that we
cannot go on as we have gone. In January, 1861, the ships of war
belonging to the United States were 83; in December, 1864, they
numbered 671, of which 54 were monitors and iron-clads, carrying 4,610
guns, with a tonnage of 510,000 tons, and manned by a force of 51,000
men. These are frightful figures; frightful for the capacity of
destruction they represent, for the heaps of carnage they represent,
for the quantity of human blood spilt they represent, for the lust of
conquest they represent, for the evil passions they represent, and for
the arrest of the onward progress of civilization they represent. But
it is not the figures which give the worst view of the fact - for
England still carries more guns afloat even than our well-armed
neighbours. It is the change which has taken place in the spirit of the
people of the Northern States themselves which is the worst view of the
fact. How far have they travelled since the humane Channing preached
the unlawfulness of war - since the living Sumner delivered his
addresses to the Peace Society on the same theme! I remember an
accomplished poet, one of the most accomplished the New England States
have ever produced, taking very strong grounds against the prosecution
of the Mexican war, and published the Bigelow Papers, so well known in
American literature, to show the ferocity and criminality of war.
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