Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-02-29
humiliation Of Armies.

Than "annihilation' there IS no more
~.vorite word with the critics OF man.
nuvres and sham-tights. In a notlce o1
q mimic battle near Portsmouth IN inc
London Times OF the day l write these
lines occurs this observation: 'lhe
guns of the fleet would have annlhllated
Colonel Thompson's advance on the leit
along the sea-shore.' IN truth IL i.
| as hard thing to sannihilate" abodyo
troops as it is to kill a scandal. In q
literal sense there IS scarcely a record
of such a catastrophe; if used in a tigur-
alive sense TO signify a loss so great as
TO put the force sutferingit hors de COM
bat, there is amazing testimony to the
quantity of "a%nnihilation'f good troops
have 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 1S, 0 but Meade held his
hand from interfering with their orderly
retreat. OF that battle the climax was
the assault of Pickctt'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 stecl'' and carried Gibbons bat
terry with a rush, the division had met
with q variety.o o experiences during its
milc-and-a-half advance over the
smooth ground up to the crest. 'When
it first 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 for
its nearer approach. An e~ntilaaing
fare tore through its ranks; the mus
letrv blazed fo.th against it with
eeadlv effect" This is the evidence of
an eye witness on the opposite side,
who adds, ''but it came on magnlll-
Gently. Yes it came on to cold steel
and dubbed muskets, and, after a des-
perate struggle it went back foiled, to
the accomplishments which had marked
les advance. But, heavy as were its
losses, it was not ''annihilated." Pick
! otis 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 Marsha
Tour, Alvenslcben's two infantry divi-
sions, numbering certainly not over
$4,000 men (for they had already lost
heavily at the Spicheren Berg) sacri-
feed within a few of 1000 during the
long summer hours while they stoodun-
supported athwart the course of the
French Army retreating from Metz.
But so far We're they from being ami
hilatcd that forty-eight hours later they
made their presence acute]y felt on the
afternoon of Gravelotte. In the July
attack on Plevna, of the $4,000 men
with whom Krudrncra and Schahoyskoy
went in, they took out under 2l,O00.
One regiment of the %latter's command
lost 725 killed and 1900 wounded
about IS per cent. of its whole number
yet the Russian retirement was not
disorderly; and next day the troops
were in resolutc cohesion a~waitingwhat
might be;all them. In the September
attack on PIevna, of 1000 Russo-Rou-
manian infantry engaged, the losses
reached is, 900. Skobeletf commanded
$4,000 men, and at the end OF his two
days desl crate fighting, not 10000 OF
these We're left standing. But there
was no annihilato on, either literally OIL
conventionally, if II 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 81
modern military history.-Archilah all
for6cs, IN fortniyhHy RerlcW.