The Immense Armies of the Potomac (Dec. 1861)

Source: The Friend. Honolulu: December 2, 1861.

There is little doubt, remarks the Cincinnati Enquirer, that the armies now in Washington and its vicinity amount to the immense aggregate of near 200,000 men on each side, or 400,000 combatants. Whenever a general battle shall occur, it will not only have no parallel on the Western Continent in the forces engaged, but hardly one in the history even of modern Europe will vie with it. The great battles of Napoleon were generally fought with, numbers far inferior to those now under the walls of Washburn. 

For instance, at Austerlitz, where Napoleon defeated the combined armies of Russia and Austria, he had but 80,000 troops; the allies had 100,000. At Jena and Auerstadt, where he broke the power of Prussia, his forces were not over 130,000 strong. At the great battle of Wagram, fought with the Austrians on the bank of the Danube, in 1809, he had but 150,000 men. At Borodino, under the walls of Moscow, he had but 120,000 to oppose the Russians. At Waterloo he did not have to exceed 80,000 troops. Not one of the battles in Italy or Spain even equaled this last number. The only battle field we now recollect, where the combatants were as numerous as those around Washington, was Leipsic, in 1813, where Napoleon had 176,--000 men, and the allies—Russians, Austrians, Prussians, Swedes and Germans— numbered 200,000. Nearly half a million men took part in this tremendous battle, which was known as the Combat of the Giants. It lasted three days, and ended in the complete overthrow of Napoleon, who was driven into France, where a series of disasters commenced, that did not end until Napoleon abdicated his crown and was exiled to the Island of Elba, in 1814. 

No battle was ever fought on the soil of the United States where 60,000 combatants took part in it on both sides. From these figures we can judge of what a battle we have reason to expect when the hosts of McClellan and Beauregard, more than twice the number of those of Napoleon and Wellington at Waterloo, come in collision on the banks of the Potomoc. It will be an event that will be the great military feature, probably, for ages to come, of martial prowess in America. Washington never had 30,000 men in one army under his command; Jackson never had 15,000, and Scott never before the present year had seen 20,000 men under his orders. Great is the ability required to manoeuvre and handle such a large body of men, and bring them all into action at the proper time and place. The late battle at Bull Run extended over seven miles from one end of our line to another. 

At Washington, probably, the battle may be raging over a field double this size. To know what is going on in such an amphitheatre, and to be prepared to order up reserves and strengthen every exposed point, requires the highest degree of intellect. At the battle of Bull Run half of both armies never fired a shot Beauregard had 40,000 men at Manassas Junction, only three miles distant, whom he never used, and yet he would have been defeated had it not been for the opportune and unexpected arrival of a portion of Gen. Johnston's army from the Upper Potomac. McDowell had a powerful reserve, that took no part whatever in the action, and yet it was strong enough to have beaten back Johnston's division if it had been on hand at the proper moment. We have confidence that McClellan has not only plenty of men, but believe he knows how to use them.