The Jeffersonian Democrat. [volume] (Chardon, Ohio) 1854-1865, 1864-08-19
Destruction of Life by War.
BY REV. W. X. MARSHALL


Much is being said just now about tho i'm.
mense number slain in battle; aud no doubt
tho slaughter seems great to people who,
like ours, have generally enjoyed the bless
ines Of peace. 1t is estimated that five hun.
dred thousand meu have been killed aud
disabled, in each Of the two armies, since
the comm encement of our civil war--mak-
ing in all one million, We may safely sup
pose that $50. 600 of these have been slain
n battle, aud that 80 600 have died from
sick ness, leaving 700, 600 so crippled as to be
unable to perform military duty. These
figures look large, and yot brief glance at
the principal battles recorded in history will
show that the loss of life in this contest is
much less than in the wars of other nations.
When we remember tho advantages We
have over them 10 the Implements of war;
fare, the wonder is not that so many, but so
few have been slain. The following is q
summary statement of the number of hu.
man beings that were killed in several of the
battles recorded in history. 1t is compiled
from Dicks "PhiIosopby of Religion" arli-
Gle "Wariike Dispositions Of Mankin6:"
In the year l0l B. c.. in an engagement
between Marius, the Roman Consul. aud
the Ambrones and the Teutones, in Trans
alpine Gaul, there werb slain of these bar
bariaDs, besides what fell in the Roman ar
nv. 200, ,O00-some historians say 100000
And it is related that tho inhabitants of the
neigbboring country made fences for vine-
yards of their bones. In the following year
tho Romans, under command of the sauc
General, slaug ghtered l4O, 600 of the Cimbr
and took &c, 900 prisoners. In the year lee
B. c., tho Romans. in single engagement
with the Cimbri, lost upwards Of $4,000
men, In the battle of Gamma the Romans
! we're surrounded by the forces Of Hannibal
and cut to pieces. After an engagement o
only three hours the carnage became 50
dreadful that even the Carthaginian Gene
raj cried out to spare the conquered. A,
bout 40 thousand Romans lay dead on the
field, and six thousand of the Carthaginian
army. What horrible scene must have
been presented on the field of battle, when
we consider that in the mode of ancient
warfare the slain wero literally mangled and
cut to pieces In the battle of Issus, be.
tween Alexander and Darius, we're slain
| 10000; in the battles of Arbela, two years
afterwards, between the same two despots
| 800 900; in the battle between Scipio and
Asdrubal, 40 900; in the battle between Su
etonius and Boadicea, 10000 In the siege
of Jerusalem by Vespasian, according to the
account by Josephus, there were destroyed
| in the most terrible manner, LOO, 600; and
there were slaughtered in Jerusalem in the
year 10 B. c., by Antiocbus, 10000. At
Cyrene there we're slain of Romans and
Greeks. by the jews. two hundred and twen-
ty thousand; in Egypt and Cypress. in the
reign OF Trsjan. Two hundred and forty
thousand; and in the reign of Adrian five
hundred aud eighty thousand of the Jews
were lsaughtered. After Julius Caesar had
carried his arms into the territories of Usi.
petes, in Germany, he defeated them with
such slaughter that four hundred thousand
are said TO have perished in one battle. At
the defeat of Attla, king OF the Huns, at
Chalons. there perished about three hun
dred thousand. In the year 63l there were
slain. 10 the Invasion of Milan by the Goths.
no less than three hundred thousand and