River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1884-02-07
AnnihiIationof Armies,

Than "annihilationi there is no more
favorite word with liberties of man9u-
vres and sham-6ghts. In notice OF a
mimic battle near Prism outh in the
London Times of the lay | write these
lines occurs this oherYation: The
guns of the fleet wouldhaye an9ihilated
Col. Thompson's Advance on the left
along the sea shOren In truth it is as
hard thing to s'annf1ilate" a body OF
troops as it IS to kill sandal. In a lit
eral sense there is scarcely q record OF
such catastrophe; fused in a figur-
alive sense to signify aloss so great as to
put the force suffering It hors de combat
there is amazing testimony to the guam
tity of Humiliation" good troops have
accepted without any such hapiess re-
suit Here are Iour instances taken al
most at random The sonfederates, out
Of 5000 men engaged at
Gettysburge, lost Is, 000but Meade held
| his hand from interfering with their or
DERBY retreat OF that fattle the climax
was the assault of Plkett's division,
"the flower of Virginia, against Webb's
front on the left of Cemetery Hill. Be
| fore the heroic Armitagt called for the
cold steel" and carried Gibbons bat
| ferry with a rush, the division had met
| with q variety of experience during its
mile-and- half advance over the
smooth ground up to the crest. when
| it first came. into sight Il had been piled
with solid shot; then halfway across it
had been vigorously slelied, and the
| double eanisters had been reserved for
| its nearer approach. an enfilading fire
| tore through its ranks the musketry
| blazed forth against it With deadly et-
feet" This is the evid,nce of an eye
witness on the opposite side. who adds,
'tbut it came on magniieently." Yes, IT
/ came on to cold steel and dubbed mus
| kets, and, after a desperate struggle It
went back foiled, to the
aceompaniments which had marked its
advance. But heavy as Tere It's losses,
| it was not 'annihilatedp Pickett's di-
vision survived to be once and again
| thorn in the federal side before the final
| day of fate came to it at Appotomax
| Court house. At Mars la-tour Alyens-
| leben's two infantry divisions, number
| ing certainly not over 49, 900 men Oor
| they had already lost heavily az the
/ Spicheren Berg sacrificed within q few
| of 1900 during the long summer hours
| while they stood unsupported athwart
| the course of the French army retreat
| ing from Metz. But so far were they
| from being annihilated that IS hours la
/
| felt on the afternoon Of Gravelotte. IN
| the July attack on Plevna of the 2, COZ
men with whom Krudeener and Schah-
hovskoy went in they took out under
81 600. One regiment of the latterss
| command lost 725 killed and
| ] 200 wounded-about seyenty-hve per
cent. of its whole number yet the Rus
| sian retirement was not dis9Fderly; and
next day the troops were in resolute CO.
! hesion awaiting what might befall them.
In the September attack on Plevna, OF
| 1900 Russo Roumanian infantry en-
gagged, the losses reached $1,000. Sko-
| belief commanded ,0s0 men, and at the
end of his two days d espeTate fighting
not IL, coo of these were left Standing
But there was no annihIlalon, either
literally or eonventionally. If one NAV
use the term. The survivors who had
fought on the Ilth and 18th Of aeptem-
/ Der were ready at the word to g in
again on the 18th and how they marched
/ ed across the Balkans later IS one Of the
| maryels of modern military history. -
Archibald Forbes in the Fortnlghtly Re
vicr