Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1884-02-07
Anrxhilation Of Armies.

Than 'Annihilation" there IS no more
iavorite word with the critics of man
8uyres and sham-fights In notice of
. mimic battle near Portsmouth in the
London Times of the day write these
lines occurs this observation: 1.-THE
guns of the feet would have annihilated
Coaonel Thompson s advance ON the left
along the sea-shore.'' In truth it is
ashard thing to '.annihilate" body of
troops as it is to kill scandal. In a
literal sense there Is scarcely a record
such catastrophe; if used in tigur-
awe sense to signify loss SO great as
10 put the force sufferingit hors de COM
oat, there is amazing testimony to the
quantity of humiliation" good troops
nave accepted without any such hapless
result. Here are four instances taken
almost at random. The Confederates,
out OF $4,000 men engaged at Gettys-
burg, lost 1900, but Meade held his
hand from interfering with their orderly
retreat. OF that battle the climax was
the assault of Pickett's division, ''the
flower of Virginia" against Webb's
'front.' on the left of Cemetery Hill. Be-
fore the heroic Armitage called for the
''cold steel' and carried Gibbons bat
terry with a rush, the division bad met
with variety of experiences during its
mlle-and-a- advance over the
smooth ground up to the crest. ''When
1t hrst came into sight it had been piled
with solid shot; then halfway across it
had been vigorously shelled, and the
double canisters had been reserved tor
Its nearer approach. An entilading
lire tore through its ranks; the mus
Kerry blazed TO. tn against it with
deadly effect" This is the evidence of
an eye witness on the opposite side,
who adds, shut it came on magniri-
Gently. Yes it came on TO cold steel
and dubbed muskets, and. after a des
perate struggle it went back fooled, to
the Accomplishments which had marked
It's advance. But, heavy as were its
losses. it was not ''annihilated." Pick
ett's division survived to be once and
again a thorn in the Federal side before
the final day of fate came to it at APP
POmattox Courthouse. At Mars Ia
Tour, Alvensleben's two infantry divi-
sions, numbering certainly not over
$1,000 men {for they had already lost
heavily at the Spicheren Berg) sacri-
feed within Il few of 1000 during the
long summer hours while they stood I'M
supported athwart the course of the
French Army retreating from Ne5z.
But SO far We're they from being ami
hilated that forty eight hours later they
made their presence acuteIy felt on the
afternoon of Gravelotte. In the July
attack on Plevna, of the 5000 men
with whom KrudPner and Schahovskoy
went in, they took out under 1000.
One regiment of the latter's command
lost 725 killed and I,20D wounded
about % per cent. of its whole number
yet the Russian retirement was not
disorderly; and next day the troops
were in resolute cohesion awaiting what
might be.all them. In the September
attack on Plevna, of "A 900 Russo Rou-
manian infantry engaged, the losses
reached 1900. Skobeleff commanded
$1,000 men, and at the end of his two
days desj crate fighting. not 10000 of
these were-left standing. But there
WIS no annihilat on, either literally or
eonventenally, if one may use the
term. The survivors who had fought
on the 18th and 18th of September were
ready at the word to 90 in again on the
18th; and how they marched across the
Balkans later is one of the marvels of
modern military history. ali
FORBES, an Fortn,ghHy ReCten.