The weekly mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado County, Calif.) 1861-1862, 1862-08-02
ExaggerRtiOns.

ExaggeratiOns.
Battle-G fields are sufficiently horrible in
all their scenes of death and suffering
but newspaper correspondents are apt to
,exaggerate even these horrors. We read
of acres Of ground being covered thick
with tho dead, the lines of the enemy
being strewed with the dead, lying So
that you cannot ride through them, and
similar expressions, intended to convey
the idea of terrible slaughter. Few peo-
pie ever take the trouble to reduce these
expressions to the facts they are designed
TO illustrate, and we suppose great many
persons imagine the ground of n battle
field literally covered with the dead. But
3 thousand dead men lying on the field Of
q great battle, terrible as the sight is, do
not cover 50 much Of the ground as We
may imagine. II, for example, the line or
place OF battle at Pittsburg Landing was,
as it appears to have been, extended over
three miles Of ground, and we imagine
the breadth Of the fighting to be half
mile, and the total number Of dead to be
on both sides five thousand, which is
probably more than twice the actual nun.
Der, we should have one dead man lying
on each $500 or 5000 square feet, or say
one man to each ordinary sized city lot.
This would indeed present sufficiently
terrible scene without describing the
ground as strewn with the dead so that
one could not ride through them. This
might be true of single spots, very small
indeed, for taking city lot of $500 feet
and covering the ground with men at the
rate Of one on every 25 feet, we have a
space for hundred of the dead, and thus
ten lots, or half an ordinary block would
afford space for a thousand of the dead,
among whom a horse or man could pass
with ease, in all directions. Laying the
men side by side. in solemn preparation
for burial, it is evident that more than two
thousand could be laid in one city lot
twenty-five by a hundred feet, allowing
every man six feet by two. This remark
leads to the correction of an ancient and
very common errlr, touching the space
occupied by all the dead Of all the years.
1t is often said that the earth has been
buried over twice or three times, with the
dead of the human race. The small por
ton of the surface of the earth required
for the graves Of all its inhabitants is in
tact startling commentary on the small
ness Of the real title of the race Of man to
the ground on which they tread, aud the
little of earth that is necessary to the long
sleep of ail the nations. Without making
an exact calculation, rough estimate will
suffice to show the truth. Taking the du,
ration Of the race at 5000 years, ana the
average Of a generation az 80 years, We
have 200 generations Of men. Making no
allowance for the dcluge and stating the
constant population at ar times at 800,
$1,000, we have for the gross number Of
all the human race up to the present time,
100, 100000. Lest any one cavl at
the number being too small, we may
double il aud say that two hundred thou
sand millions of our fellow men have
gone into the dust Of the earth we tread
on. This estimate must satisfy any one
for it suppOseS the population as great as
at present, from the days of Adam until
this. Now giving every man and woman
and child grave six feet by two, aud call
ing a square mile 25,000,00O square feet
we have in one square mile graves iol
A,UOU,UUU ANU HO'c, anu vi Soui 81 l'I Nv
hundred thousand millions we want only
"A hundred thousand square miles. Til,
States of New York, New Jersey anc
Pennsylvania would therefore De ampi,
for the purpose. And as we have made
this estimate roughly, and so large as Il
remove all possible cavil, we may ado
that making more accurate calculation
allowing for the deluge. for the gradua
increase of the race, for the average siz
OF men, and giving to each the. poor litt
spot of ground which he really needs 70
his long repose, it will be found that al
the men that have lived and labored il
the busy scenes of the world, all the grea
nations that have builded its cities, pile
up its pyramids and palaces, all the vas
armies that have fought its battles in tn
ages past, if gathered side by side to tn
peaceful and accomplishing rest of tn
grave. might be covered up in rounde
graves, man by man, woman by woman
and child by child, within few countie
of the State of New York.-N y jour
nal of Commerce.