Smyrna times. [volume] (Smyrna, Del.) 1854-1987, 1862-08-21
The Chief Dangers of Going to War

~"0 SAAoA OdnboIs VI GOlnS 10 w az
The most serious business before the
peaceful communities of the loyal States is
the filling up Of the draft for 100000 men
now made peremptory by the published or
ders from Washington.
1t will undoubtedly prove very inconYc-
nlent for many thousands Of citizens that
Will be drafted to leave their families and
their business, and take the field ut the pre-
sent time. But the drafted men should re-
member that fully eight hundred thousand
men have freely offered themselves to the
Government. most of them for three wears
or during the war, before he was called
upon at all to contribute lis services. And
further, that, under the draft, his term of
service will expire ia nine months. leaving
the weight of National defence still upon
the already OvertaXed volunteers And vet
not one Of these men who have ENGAGED 10
bear arms for three years were under any
greater obligations to go to war than any one
OF those who will now be taken by draft.
There is avAguepopular apprehension that
to 90 to var is to be, almost necessar;!v
killed i'll battle or manned for life bv SHOT
or shell. 1t is true that war is hazardous
game, the sole aim Of which is the dcstruc
ton Of life; and man must ACCEPT that
fact with manly spirit in entering upon
his career as a soldier. Yet it is also true
as the history of all campaings most fully
proves, that Death or wounds in battle is
not the great peril of the soldier. lie is in
far more danger in morals and in body.
from vice and from the diseases incident 70
camp life, than from the weapons Of death
i'll the enemy's hands.
The Sanitary Commission publi.hed re-
port recently on the comparative mortality
among soldiers, from disease and from
wounds received in battle, that is very sur
prising. 1t states that "the statistics of
armies clearly reveal the fact that much
larger number Of soldiers die from disease
resulting from untWOrable hygienic circun-
stances than from wounds inflicted in bat
tie" And many instances are given in
English and French military history to
prove it, Sir David Brewster mentions
that tho Nincty-secOnd Regiment lost
more officers and men in four months from
the climate of Jamaica than by the hand of
enemy, in an active war of twenty-five
years, in the progress of which it was TWEEN
ty-siX times in battle" The whole number
OF officers and men sent to the east by the
French during the period of two wear (Cri
mean wary was 309, PCS. OF this number
200,00 were under treatment at the amlu
lances and hospitals, viz: $4,000 for wounds
and 10000 for disease SERVE, an intel
llgcnt investigator, writes: THE losses
Occasloned by the most murdcrous battles
do not equal one-fourth of the total losses to
which an army is ordinarily subjected" In
the large French army of 1902 sent to
the Crimea, as before stated, there were
81 22J deaths. OF these, only 1900 were
killed on tho battlefield, or not afterwards
heard from. Thus there were eign deaths
from other causes in this brave and world |
renowned French army where there was one
death in battle.
We remind the public of these facts, not
to give them the idea that war is not dan
gerous and bloody business, but to assure
them that its perils in battle are greatly ex
aggerated, its chief danger but imperfectly
understood yland that the citizen going to
war has his life and bodily health in his own
hands to very great extent. lie is in
three times as much danger from his own
prudence or his commanding officers neg
lect, as he is from the murderous engines
of the enemy. If our conscript friends will
bear these facts in mind, and give good care
to cleanliness and diet, strictly observing
such intelligent instructions on the sub
iect as are now accessible to all. their
chances of escape from all injury, and of
safe return home after an honorable service
will greatly exceed the risks of their death
or wounding in battle.
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