Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-09-03
APPALLING LOSSES.
WHY THE POTOMAC FORCES FOUGHT
LESS STONCLY IN JUNE, 1864.

WHY THE POTOMAC FORCES tOOGNl
LESS STONCLY IN JUNE, 1864
ofaCial Figures Of the Losses-Generals
Killed aud Wounded on Both slides
Private Soldier State. a Problem
A Contrast.
At the time, In the latter part of June.
1854. it was freely charged 10y the gener-
ais employed in the Army OF the Potomac
that that army was not fighting as
>tanchly at Petersburg rs 1t had fought
:. the Wilderness OF at SpOttsylvania.
The charge was trues We had seen regi-
ments melt before the heat Of the Confed-
crate battle fire, until a scant hundred
men fell into line when the drum tapped.
We had seen brigades fall into battle line
SDO muskets strong Once at Cold Har-
Dor two regiments were sent 10 support
NV battery smiled sorrowfully at the
scantv array One hundred and twenty
muskets. sixty flies. were all that were
left OF two Delaware regiments We had
seen heavy artillery regiments. which
Joined us at Spottsylvania l. 800, l,6OO
|, 100 men strong, fall into line before
I y
to come back from the assault delivered
on June Is, 1864. still weaker. The en-
listed men who passed unharmed through
the frightful carnage judged the losses
the army suffered by the actual losses
that had occurred in regiments with
which we were familiar.
To the official figures. During May,
1861 which period of time includes the
L.. y,ff Q hn f..far
trenChments at North Anna. the
Army of the Potomac lost &5
officers killed, l.343 wounded, and
GERS were killed and ten or twelve wounded
during this month. In the same month
5, ,lS9 enlisted men were killed, 2s,l4O
wounded. and ,2939 were missing. From
May 81 to Oct ~, the day on which the
campaign practically ended. there were
in the Potomac army 40l office killed,
l,453 wounded. and 564 missing: during
the same time 5S7 enlisted men were
killed. "a. I+0 were wounded, and l5,sli
were missing The aggregate losses after
the figh ting at North Anna were ii, 9S9 en-
listed men and officers.
GENERALS KILLED AND WOUNDED.
And in this appalling number, stricken
when the army was well nigh diScOur-
aged, and when the soldiers needed, il
ever battle worn troops did need, the
presence of their generals, and needed to
be reused to enthusiasm and yalOr by gal
liant leaders the enlisted men never heard
of but one general officer being killed. He
was Brig. Gen. Burnham. They heard OF
one or two other generals being wounded,
and of two being captured. During the
same time-that is, after the battle Of
North AnnR-we learned that the Confed-
crate Gems. Doles, Chambliss, Gherardie.
Donovan and Gregg had been killed, and
many Of their generals wounded. And it
must be remembered that the Confeder-
ate general was behind sheltering earth
works with their troops. The execution
of their duty made il essential that they
should be there. Our losses of general
officers, If they had fearlessly performed
their duty would have been at least four
times as heavy as those of the Confeder-
ates Instead of one Union generals be
ing killed to "A, 900 enlisted men stricken
in battle, there should have been at least
twenty of them killed and eighty oil them
wounded, and there would have been il
they had done their duty as the Coufeder
ate generals did theirs.
Let me go west. and TO the battle of
Franklyn 10 illustrate my meaning. On
the afternoon OF Nov. 80, 1864, the Confed-
crate generals led their veteran infantry
TO the assault against the hastily con
structed union earthworks, thrown up
across a broad neck OF land formed by a
bend in the Harpeth river, in Tennessee.
The attack began at p. IN. II was dark
at q p. IN. The fight lasted until about 10
p IN. Say six hours of fighting. four of
which was performed after dark, when it
was impossible for infantry to select c'"n-
erals as targets. or to shoot accurately
The COnfederates lost about 5000 enlisted
men in this action. The problem for the
heroes Of magazine fiction TO solve is
simple one in proportion. They had bet
ter figure it out for themselves. 1t is
this.