The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1870-11-04
cMistellaneous.
LOSS OF. LIFE In WAR.

preciable measure consequent on the
use of better or more effective wea-
pons, the affirmative of this PROPOSE
tion must be accepted. War concerns
non-combatants as well as others, and
the shorter it is the better, of course,
for all industrial interests. If 100000
men must be killed it is better for their
country that they should be killed in a
month than in a year. A recognition of
this principle would seem in part to
have inspired the existing Prussian
military system. The accounts that
reach us of the current strife are GER
tainly terrible and distressing. The de.
tails of mangled bodies, of colored
rags, glued together with blood and
brains, and pinned in fantastic shapes
with bits of bone, are sickening beyond
measure. 1t is, however, a debatable
question, granting that war must still
be, whether the soldier is worse off for
going through a great danger for
short time, rather than a considerable
danger for long time. An explana-
ton of some details of the loss of life
in past and recent battles will assist the
formation of intelligent opinion.
For the losses as well as the numbers
engaged in the battles of antiquity, we
have but uncertain data. Such history
as we possess asserts that at Marathon
10000 Greeks overthrew 100000 Per-
SLAMS, and that 100000 of the latter were
slain. This, of course is the Greek his
tory and not the Persian. At the ia
king of Jerusalem by TITUS, more than
1000, 900 Jews are believed to have per-
ished. At Naissus, when CLAUD1Us
defeated the Goths, it Is said 800, 900 of
the latter were killed. The seige Of Acre
cost an equal number of Christian SOL
diers. At the battle Of Hastings $4,000
were killed-a vast proportion of the
numbers engaged. The famous strug-
gle at Bannockburn was one of the most
disastrous for England that ever oc-
CURED before its date or since, the total
loss being $4,000, or one.half of King
EDWARDS whole army. At Cressy the
English under the Black Prince killed
nearly as many as their own number of
the French, /. e., somewhat over 80, 900;
and at Agincourt HENRY V. did even
better, for, with only 5000 men, he is
declared to have beaten 60, 600, of whom
10000 were killed and $4,000 taken pris-
oners. The records state that at Blen-
helm the English under MARLBOROUGH
slew $1,000 of their adversaries, and
took $4,000 prisoners. At Fontenoy,
where Marshal SANE, at the head of
the French, defeated the English under
the Duke of CUMBERLAND, both sides
confessed to loss of about 1900. At
Malplaquet the Allies lost one-sixth Of
their whole force of 50, 900 men, and the
| French One.fifth of theirs, Of 10000.
The loss.of the Allies at Austerlitz was
| 80, ,000-one- third of their whole array I;
while that of the French was 10000
one. seventh more than theirs. OF the
1i0 900 Austrians at the battle of Wag-
ram, $4,000 were wounded or slain, and
Of the $50, 600 French, &c, 900. At Boro.
! dino, the awful number of $4,000 Rus
SLAMS were put hOrs de combat, being
one third Of their whole army, and 30,-
| 600 French, or one.fourth of theirs. The
Allied loss at Leipsic was 4S,00O-one-
sixth Of their army, and that of the
| French, 40 000-One.quarter. At Water
loo, of the 10 600 Allies, the loss was
&c, 600, and of the 10000 French, $1,000,
or more than one-half.
In the present generation the great
European battles may be considered to
| have been Solferino, Koniggratz or Sad,
Owa, Metz, and Sedan. At Solferino,
the French and Italians had 1872, 900,
the Austrians had 100000, and lost 90
| 600, or one. eighth of their whole force.
OF 220, 900 Prussians at Sadowa, but 81
900, or one-twenty-third, and of the
80, 600 Austrians, 81 ,000, or one. e.seventh
We're lost. The present estimate is that
there were 100000 French in the three
days. battles before Metz, and that 50,.
900 of them were destroyed, and that of
| the $50, 900 Germans, 10000, or one sixth
represent the losses. 1t is difficult as
l yet to pronounce upon the number of
killed and wounded at Sedan. 1t is va
riously reckoned from 10000 to 10000
men, The French who were made
prisoners numbered some S5,000-the
first instance of the surrender of so
large body of troops since the Romans
capitulated to the Samnites at the eau
dine Forks. In our American civil war,
the most sanguinary battles exhibited
mortality of nearly the same relative
proportions as the most bloody of the
European struggles. About 100000 men
$50 Federals and 10000 Confeder-
ates-are recorded to have been engaged
at Antielam; the national loss is set
down at III ,426, and the Confederates at
about 10000; the aggregate loss thus
being more than n quarter of the whole
number of both combatants. Nearly
the same numbers with the same rela-
tive casualties were seen at the second
Bull Run. At Gettys burg the national
loss is recorded at 3,l90, and that of
the Confederates at about $4,000 The
numbers on each side having been about
equal, or, say $4,000 each, more than
one.third of the whole were missing or
destroyed at the end of the battle. II
is commonly reckoned that the Ameri-
can civil war cost by death in action,
wounds and disease, about 100000
able bodied men, which is also the mum
Der said to have been expended in the
wars of NAPOLEON /.
1t seems probable, on the whole, that
former battles have often been as de.