The Nevada journal., 1855-11-30
Loss Of Life i'm Great Battles,

nc waste OF human Ike in the uusuc-
cessful attack on the Malakoff and Redan
appears to have been nearly as great tho
not quite) as in the average of the most
destructive modern battles. More than
Eve thousand of the assailants were killed
and wounded, vast proportion, when We
consider how small comparatively the
storming column was. The French alone
admit Il loss of thirty eight hundred men,
out OF an attacking force of twenty-five
thousand; tha. is to say, every seventh
man was rendered incapable, either by
death or wounds.
There is, indeed ,one modern siege which
was more bloody than this-not actually,
however, but when the numbers engaged
are compared with those who fell. We
allude TO the second siege of Badajoz, in
the Peninsular war That famous Span
ish fortress was invested by Wellington, at
the head of twenty two thousand men, and
finally carried by storm after one Of the
most sanguinary assaults on record In
the attack on the great breach alone not
less than ,hirty-eight hundred men fell
Yet Badajoz was small place, the fort
not being larger, perhaps, than the Mala-
koft and its out-works. Whoever would
realize half the horrors of war should read
Napier's account of the fall of Badajoz.
Marengo, Austerlitz, Wagram, Leipsic,
Dresden, Borodino and Waterloo were
among the most desperately contested bat
ties OF the first Napoleon At Marengo
the Austrians lost ten thousand, more than
third of their whole force, while the
French lost seven thousand, or about in
the same proportion. A considerable por-
ton OF these were prisoners, however, while
at the Redan and Malakoff but few priso-
ners were taken. At Austcrlitz the French
lost twelve thousand, or nearly sixth of
their eutire force; but the allies lost thirty
thousand, or more than third At Wa
gram the loss on either side was twenty
five thousand, or about one-seventh Of
those engaged. At Leipsic the loss was
fortythree thousand on the side of the al
lies, out of nearly three hundred thousand
in the field, and sixty thousand on the
part Of the French, out Of one hundred and
seventy five thousand. At Dresden, the
allies lost twenty-five thousand, or one
sixth Of their entire numbers, while the
French lost but twelve thousand, or one
tenth. At Borodino, the bloodicst battle
OF all, fifty thousand fell on each side, or a
third Of those in battle. At Waterloo the
French lost forty thousand, Or more than
half; but large portion of these fell in
the rout; yet the English lost nearly
twenty thousand, or almost third OF
their entire troops
1t is often said, in discussing military
affairs, that our American battles have
been too tiifing to take into consideration
But if we consider, not the numbers actu-
ally killed and wounded, but the propor-
ton which those numbers bear to the whole
force engaged, we shall find that those ac,
tons, thus adorned, were as hotly contes
ted as even the first of Nnpoleon's battles
At Eutaw Springs, for example, in the
revolutionary war, one-third OF both ar
mics were left upon the field. At Chip
pewa, in the war Of 1912, nearly one-fifth
of the British were disabled At Lun-
dy's Land, the loss of Americans was
about onc-thrd, and that of the English
equally great. At New Orleans, where
the British attempted, on smaller scale,
the same rash experiment which they were
lately defeated in, before the Redan and
Malakoff, the assailants lost 1000 out OF
their army Of $4,000.
From these statistics it appears that
battles in the open field are generally more
bloody, though not always, than assaults
on cntrenchcd positions. The reason is,
that in the former case the entire army is
usually engaged, but in the latter, only
the s:orming column. The loss by those
actually occupied on the attack is always
heavier, however, than the average loss of
an army in the open field. 1t would seem,
also, that the allies in their later repulse
suffered as severely as the English at New
Orleans-a defeat which has always been
considered one of the most sauguinary on
record. Baltimore San.
- % -<Dz--
A 7 ~, Il