The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1862-03-01
ale W aTs OF Ief2 and 1851.

! Ne magnitude of the scale upon which
the war now raging in this country is con-
Quoted Is appalling, if we compare it with
those that have preceded IT, The war Of
the Bevoiution was relatively mere sue
cessiou OF skirmshes The war of 1912,
measured both az regards numbers and
the 1eid or operations, shriuks INFO CON
tempubie insi ignifcancc beside the gigantic
operations that are going on AZ the present
hour. Ii we look back at the history,
more especially of the last war with Eng
iand, and compare its leadinr incidents
with those OF the conflict now raging, We
shall find that it hardly rises in the dignity
OF modern Reconnaissance The battles
dwiadie down into the veriest martial
enseateS; the casualties are few, and the
number Of prisoners in victorious engage
ments counted rather by hundreds than
thousands
The first battle OF any Importance was
that of Brownstown, near Detroit. fought
August 9th, lsl2 Our force was only 600.
that OF the British and Indians combined,
100 Our loss was Is killed and 63 wound
ed that of the enemy 100
Gen. Huls army which iisgracefully
surrendered at Detroit sixty days later.
only numbered tcentytrs hndred men;
while that of the enemy consisted of only
700 English and coo Indians.
Brigadicr General Smith abandoned his
favorite project of invading Canada West
because, although be had been preparing
the greater part of the summer, and had
energetically drummed up volunteers he
had succeeded in collecting only 1.500
men; and he did not think the expedition
would be successful unless he had l,500
more.
At the battle of York our force was
LOO that of the enemy, 200 English
and 100 Indians. The loss was 900 killed
aud wounded and 300 prisoners This
was one OF our most brilliant victories yss
it is not TO be compared with the battle Of
Belmont or that of Balls Bluff, either as
regards the number engaged or losses
sustained
At the battle of Sackets Harbor, the
enemy force was ,000; ours 500 His
loss in killed and wounded $50; ours l5i
Com. Perrys victory on Lake EIis was
big thing in its day; yet his whole
fleet consisted OF 81 guns and two swIvels.
Our loss in killed and wounded was 223;
that OF the enemy has never been def.
nitely known.
At the battle of Chippewa our loss was
32S that OF the enemy l54 AT the bat
tie of Fort Erie our loss was 81; that of
enemy 5s2.
At the battle Of Baltimore the enemy's
force numbered from 1000 to 5000; ours
was probably less than half that number.
Our loss was about l1o; that of the enemy
some 200 killed, wounded, and missing.
Even the battle of New Orleans looks
Insignificant to eyes that have witnessed n
reconnaissance on the Potomac 10000
strong and a review of 10000 troops The
British force. including sailors and marines,
as about 1900; that of Gen. jackson,
8 2U0 on tue left bank of the river, and
about 5000 distributed in positions hard
bv. Our loss was killed and wou nded;
tha. of the enemy 700 killed and i 400
wounded
1t is safe to gay that notwithstanding
tie torpor of a large share of our army
and the taunts that we have been playing
| at war a greater number of lives have
been lost within the past five months than
! in the eutire War of 1872
| The New Orleans Delta complains bit
| terIv of the loss of the Calhoun vessel
which run the biockaed from New Dreams
to Havana. and was captured when re-
turning The Delta sa's
of o,,npo,r9tr, a large qua,.Gts efrfss and other
some S3o0,000 7a gaa
Th6Nelta SAYS, in the articles from which
! 70, Sboye. the taking of the Calhoun,
10 the loss Of 3 battle,