The Importance of Numbers

[David Lockmiller]

(07-21-2018 04:01 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  David, I shall guess Antietam because the outcome there led to President Lincoln issuing the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. Antietam is also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, especially in the South.

You are right, Roger, of course. Do you happen to know the general rules for the naming of battles by both the Union forces and the Confederate forces for the same battles?

As to the source of my original question, the answer is Cordelia A.P. Harvey, the wife of the governor of Wisconsin, who, after her husband's death in 1862, persuaded Lincoln to endorse the establishment of a hospital in Madison for Wisconsin soldiers. The source reference that I used is the "Collected Words of Abraham Lincoln," compiled and edited by Don and Virginia Fehrenbacher, at pages 200-201.

At one point in their discussions, Lincoln spoke of the number of men available for the battle of Antietam:

"This war might have been finished at that time if every man had been in his place that was able to be there, but they were scattered hither and thither over the North, some on furloughs, and in one way and another, gone; so that out of 170,000 that the government was paying, only 83,000 could be got for action. The consequence, you know, proved nearly disastrous."

Also, during their conversation that day, Lincoln said to her: "I shall never be glad anymore. . . . the springs of life are wearing away."