The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1862-08-07
The Great Entities.

Inc DaJue OF AuSterlitZ IS frequently
quoted as among the bloodiest of modern
times. II was fought on the first Of De-
cember, 1905 by sixty-fve Thousand
French, commanded by Napoleon in per-
son, against ninety thousand Austrians
and Russians The French we've victo-
rious, having taken nearly twenty thou
sand of the allies prisoners, besides killing
and wounding fifteen thousand more.
The French loss was about seven thou
sand in killed and wounded. These fig
ures are given by Theirs, who obtains his
statistics from official documents
The battle Of Leipsie, fought October
| ID, 1873, was far more fatal in its results,
both upon the French and the allies.
The latter, although victorious, had to
mourn over total loss, in three days, of
46,904 men, of the flower of their army;
while the French loss, including prisoners,
swelled to upward of sixty thousand
The battle of Waterloo was far less
bloody, although more decisive in its re-
suits. The final defeat of the French
army under Napoleon, at Waterloo, was
| the result of a series of battles, three in
number known respectively as the battles
of Quatre- Bras, Ligny, and Waterloo.
They were fought on the 10th, 18th, and
| 18th of June, 1915. Let us compare the
forces engaged and the results of these
three days fighting with the seven days
| struggle with the rebels before Richmond:
/. In the battle of Quatre- Bras, June
18th, the French force consisted of 81, 1913
effective troOps-three- fOurths of which
were infantry. The allies, under Well
lington, brought into action 3l,643 men,
all infantry except 1000. The French
loss is said by Siborne, (" Waterloo
Campaign,'') the highest English authori-
ty, to have been 1000 men, and that of
the allies (otficial) 4463 men.
2. At Ligny, on June 18th, the nu-
merical strength of the French emperors
forces amounted to 1896 men of all
arms, while the Russian army, under
| Butcher, mustered S34l7. The loss of
the French, who were victorious, was
between 1000 and 5000; killed and
wounded But few prisoners were taken
on either side.
The total effective strength of the
French army at Waterloo was, accor-
ding TO Captain Siborne, 6S,907 men
That of the Anglo-Allied army was near
ly equal, having been 6T661 men of all
arms. The total loss of the Allies in
killed, wounded and missing, is given
by Siborne, from the official returns
| transmitted by the Duke of Wellington
| to the British government, at p SOB. The
| French loss, in the absence 0fall returns,
| it is impossible TO estimate but, in the
language of the journals Of the day, "tho
entire French army was in effect ami
hilated." AllisOn-not very good au-
thority--puts down the French loss at
| $4,000 men. No reliable data exists for
this estimate tit is certain that the
losses of the French very greatly ex-
| ceeded those OF the losses Of the allies,
and the whole Of their artillery, ammu-
milton wagons and baggage fell into the
| hands Of the victors.
If we now sum up the net result of
these three bloody days, we have the lol-
lowing figures
| Killed, wounded aud missing at
! Quatro Bras June l6,,u.,-.... 81 iOT 1900
Killed, wounded aud missing AZ
ligney june l7;..,..,,,. 1900 1000
! Killed. wounded aud missing at
Waterloo. June is.,,,....... H,'O3 say 5000
Toal..........,.......,...., 1886 tlOOo
The bloodiest contest the world has
| seen since Waterloo, was the battle Of
| SolfCrino. The forces engaged were, on
! one side, $50, 900 Austrans, and on the
side Of the allies 40, 600 French and
! Sardinians, The battle occurred on the
| 24th Of June, 1859. The allies were vic
torious, with an admitted loss in killed,
wounded and missing, Of 1900. The
Austrian loss is stated at about $1,000.
1t thus appears that, even taking the
/ highest reported figures of the killed and
wounded ON both sides, in the recent
seven days fighting before Richmond, the
fatality falls much below that Of the four
most obstinately contested battles since
the commencement of the present CEN
tury. And this, too, Notwithstanding
the prolongation of the struggle TO more
than twice the number Of days occupied
! by any of the battles above cited,
In the three days battle Of Waterloo,
with only $1,000 men engaged on either
side, the lists Of mortality were greater
by nearly one-half than in General Nc
1 Clcllan's army, although they must have
numbered az least 10000 men, 10 say
nothing Of the more extrayagant esti-
mates of the Chandler school. which
| places it much higher
II the above historical parallel adds
nothing 10 the many proofs on record OF
the truth Of the Roman adage that "there
have been brave men before Agamemnon, "
etc, we need interpret il as no dispar-
agement Of The proves Of our country
men.