GDG- Book "Retreat From Gettysburg"

[Nick KURTZ]

I went back and read some of the old posts and can see what you guys are talking about.  And Dynia makes some great points about the size of the animal herds and how much they would have eaten.  When I read the book I kept notes of what was taken and came to the conclusion that what was gained was not worthwhile.
Brown says that in May 1863 Lee received 140,000 bushels of corn to feed his animals. This allowed each animal only 3 pounds of corn per day instead of the 10 they needed.

> A bushel of corn, on the ear, weighs 70 pounds. Lee was thus sent 9,800,000 pounds of corn. If he used 3 pounds per day for 31 days that means he had 105,376 animals in the army.

> A bushel of corn, off the ear, weighs 56 pounds. Lee was thus sent 7,840,000 pounds of corn. If he used 3 pounds per day for 31 days that means he had 84,301 animals in the army.

>From tallies during the campaign it appears that the Confederacy was using the 56 pound bushel measurement.

Brown's tallies for Longstreet's corps in the campaign come to 4550.8 bushels of corn (254846 pounds)

This means that the quantity of captured corn was enough to feed 84,000 animals 3 pounds for 1 day. Since these figures are only for a portion of Longstreet's Corps and his was the last corps into some areas we can assume that this tally is only a fourth or fifth of what the army captured. Even at that rate Lee had gained corn to feed his army's animals for less than a week.  So it seems to me that if this was a grand foraging raid that coming out with only enough feed for a week is a pretty bad bargain for what was lost in manpower.

--Nick



  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Tom Ryan<mailto:pennmardel at mchsi.com> 
  To: GDG<mailto:gettysburg at arthes.com> 
  Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2007 7:50 AM
  Subject: RE: GDG- Book "Retreat From Gettysburg"


  Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:


  Nick,

  As I recall, some members of the group raised questions about what was
  thought to be  excessively large numbers of livestock (horses, cattle,
  sheep, hogs, etc.) and the quantity of flour that Brown cited as part of the
  booty shipped South by the ANV during their trek through Maryland and
  Pennsylvania (mostly the latter).  Also, there were questions about the
  number of wagons that Brown claimed were part of the various trains heading
  south during the retreat.  This included something like 17 miles of trains
  of mostly wounded that Imboden led to Williamsport, and about 20 miles of
  wagons in the train that preceeded the army.  Not to mention other wagons
  that accompanied the three corps as they marched.

  These were some of the issues that came up.  Other than these questions,
  overall the reaction was mostly positive.  The book came out about two years
  ago, so it has been awhile since those discussions took place.

  Tom

  -----Original Message-----
  From: gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com<mailto:gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com>
  [mailto:gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com]On Behalf Of Nick KURTZ
  Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 11:35 PM
  To: GDG
  Subject: Re: GDG- Book "Retreat From Gettysburg"


  Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:


  Tom,
  I don't remember the discussion of the numbers.  Can you enlighten me?
  Thanks,
  Nick
    ----- Original Message -----
    From: Tom Ryan<mailto:pennmardel at mchsi.com<mailto:pennmardel at mchsi.com>>
    To: GDG<mailto:gettysburg at arthes.com<mailto:gettysburg at arthes.com>>
    Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 2:21 PM
    Subject: RE: GDG- Book "Retreat From Gettysburg"


    Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:

    Some doubts were expressed about the figures that the author
    cited for the number of horses, cattle, etc. that were confiscated and
  sent
    South, but thus far no counter evidence has come forth as far as I know.

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