The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1865-07-08
Casualties Of War.

Official estimates in the War Department
compute the number of deaths in the Union
armies since the commencement Of the war,
! including the starving prisoners, at three
hundred and twenty five thousand. There
have doubtless been fully two hundred thou
sand Southern soldiers removed by disease
and the casualties Of battle. so that not less
! than five hundred and twenty eve Thousand
! lives were sacrificed in this nnholy contest,
! begun and prolonged by the South in their
vain effort to build up new Republic and
strens then the slave power.
! Our greatest losses in any one campaign
occurred at Gettysburg, when 23,267 Union
soldiers were killed, wounded and taken
prisoners. Rockers campaign in 1868 in
the Wilderness, ranks next to Gettysburg as
| far rs regards Union losses, they having
amounted to 10000, though generally re-
| ported at 10000. Burnside lost $4,000 at
Fredericksburg, Mcclellan l ,42G at Ante
tam, Porter 5000 at Gaines Mills, Rose
Grams 1905 at Murfreesboro', and 1851 at
| Chickamauga, and Sherman about 5000 in
| the two days battle around Atlanta.
| The official reports of Gen Grants losses
from the time he crossed the Rapidan until
receiving the surrender of Lee compute them
at 10000. In the various engagements
fought by General Grant in the Wes+, 1873
at Pittsburg Landing, 9,S15 in the severe
contests around Vicksburg and in the attack
on Missionary Ridge about 1000.
Though our losses in many of the CAM
paigns have been heavy, get they fall below
those incurred in some of the European
wars. This has been due to considerable
extent, to the efficiency of the medical de.
partment and the lavish amount Of supplies,
at least one third greater than those furnish
ed to any Europern army. report recently
made to the imperial Academy of Medicine
by Chenu, Physician of the French Army,
estimates the losses of that army in the Cri-
mean War as follows killed on the field
of battle or missing, 1920; lost in the
Semilante, 7O2; died of various diseases at
Alma, 1904; died of cold, apoplcxy, etc,
before Sebastopol,4 342; died in the field
| Thus, of 309 264 men sent by France to the
! Crimca, about one third found soldiers
! grave.
| The siege and reduction of Jerusalem re-
suited, says Josephus, in the loss of l,000,-
900 lives. 10000 Pcrsians were placed hOrs
dc combat at the battle of Arbela, and lO0,.
900 Carthagenians in the engagement at
Palermo, 10000 infantry and Il 900 cavalry
persisted on the fatal field OF lsus. Spai4
lost 1000, 900 lives during the prosecution
of the Arabians, and 100000 in expelling
the Jews. Frederick the Great inflicted a
| loss of 10000 on the Austrians in the con,
hcts Of Leuthen and Leignitz. The battle
of Jenna, and the lesser engagements imme
diately following, cost the Prasian army over
800, 900 men. At the battle of Leipsc the
! French suffered casualties to the number of
| $4,000, and the Sweeds and their allies 40,
900 more $4,000 French and Russian sol
diers lay dead and dying on tn ied after
the battle Of Moscow; aud Napoleon again
lost Al 900 men at Waterloo, and the Duke
of Wellington Il, 900 more.
| There is strong feeling of hostility en-
tertaincd among the rank and file Of our
armies towards the medical profession, for
which there is undoubtedly some grounds.
The sudden and pressing demand for army
surgeons called Il large number Of incXperi-
enced Esculapians into the field, and no
doubt hundreds of soldiers have been de-
privcd of their limbs when amputation was
! unnecessary. Yet, when we compare the
general sanitary condition of our armies
with that of other military organizations,
and consider the care of the Government
for its troops, and the comparatively small
number Of deaths from sickness, there is
certainly occasion for thanksgiving. AS we
have seen above, seventy four thousand
| French soldiers, or one fourth of the whole
number. perlshed from sickness in the Cri-
! mean war.
Thirty thousand Russian troops also died
in the Cr:mea during few weeks time from
! camp disease, and, five mistake not, thirty.
five per cent. Of the English troops were
I prostrated with sickness when Florence
| Nightingale entered upon her mission OF
mercy. OF thirty thousand troops that com.
posed the English army under Wellington,
in 1909, six thousand were sick in the hos
wit, 1c In bo
! bering forty fcur thousand, were on the sick
! list. Nearly one-haif Of our entire forces
of the Revolution, forty-seven per cent,
we're at one time unfit for duty.
There have been no full tables published
Of the sanitary condition of our armies dur
ing the four years struggle, but separate re-
port show that the losses from sickness hea
no comparison with those above. Of the
entire Army of the Potomac, there were
only five per cent. on the sick list during the
FIRST months of 1862.