Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1889-06-21
THw COST IN LIVES.
Interesting Facts Regarding Herimontal
Josses in the Late Civil war.

interesting facts.
Regarded from ono point OF view tho
ono regiment, in all the Union Armies.
which sustained the greatest loss in
battle during the American Civil War
was the Fifth New Hampshire Infantry.
II lost 205 mon killed or mortnlly
wounded during It's four years OF serv-
ice. from 1861 to 1865. Second on tho
list comes the Eighty-third Pennsyl-
vuniu, with loss OF 2S2 officers and
men. Tho Seventh Wisconsin Infantry
follows, with q loss of 2S1. Forty-fvo
regiments OF tho two thousand COM
posing tho entire Union army lost over
two hundred officers and mon each.
The hcavlcstloss in battle OF any rcgi-
mental organization occurred in the
First Maine Heavy Artillery, OF Bir-
noy's Division, Second Corps. "Dur-
ing its term of service 1t lost twenty
throe officers and 400 enlisted mon
killed or mortally wounded in battle"
But the First Maine Heavy Artillery
did not takc the field until May, 1864,
and its fighting and all its losses oc-
cured within period OF ten months.
Another heavy artillery regiment tho
Eighteenth New York, Of Gibbons Di-
vision, Second Corps, sustained the
next heaviest losses, nineteen officers
and 3l2 mon having been killed or died
of wounds. This regiment also saw
all its active s.rvico during the last
ton months OF the war. 1t must be
borne in mind that tho usual strength
of the heavy artillery regiments was
1900 men, as against 1000 for the in-
fantry. A cavalry regiment numbered
1,2O0 men with full ranks, while a
battery OF light artillery had n maxi
mum strength OF 100 men and six guns,
and when organized twelve batteries
constituted regiment. Heavy losses
we're sometimes sustained by the light
artillery, rs in the case of tho Eleventh
Ohio at Iultu, whom sixty-nino men OF
the battery were killed in rebel
charge upon the guns.
Some readers may be surprised at
the maxima of losses in the hardest
fighting regiments as given by Colonel
Fox. Tho highest rate reached here
is 1877 per cent. and that was the loss
of the Second Wisconsin. Wadworth's
Division, Second Corps. Tho lowest
percentage recorded in this list is $50,
the Seventeenth Maine and the First
Minnesota both reaching that propor-
tion. 1t is, however, in comparing
these losses with those of European
troops that the greatest illumination is
thrown on the character of the fighting
In our war. In proportion to tho num-
her oncnped. the rrcatestloss sustained
bv any regiment during the war was
that Of the First Minnesota at Gettys-
burg. The regiment was ordered by
Hancock to take tho colors OF Wilcox's
Confederate Brigade, TO gain time for
reinforcements to be brought up at n
n critical moment. The regiment lost
in this fight 2G2 officers and men. Its
casualties we're 229, of whom seventy
five were killed outright, or over
% per cent. of those engaged. This
enormous slaughter was never again
eoualled, but the percentage of
killed for many regiments in many
other battles rose as high as
twenty. In some engagements the
casualties, when reckoned upon whole
divisions, appear at first larger.
Take, for example, tho losses of Han
cocks Division ut Fredericksburg, in
charging the stone wall at Marye's
Heights. Out OF 4, S34 engaged, there
were 2,O29 killed, wounded and miss
ing, and most OF the missing were
killed or wounded men. The maxi
mum percentage as based on the total
of killed, wounded and missing, in
stead OF on the killed and mortally
wounded alone, gives figures which,
though necessarily less exact and trust
worthy, of course raise the ratio.
Colonel Fox gives such list, the
highest figures in which are reached
in u percentage of $40. while 90 per
cent. is the lowest recorded. Now, the
heaviest loss in the German army dur
ing the Franco-Prussian war occurred
in the Sixteenth Infantry (Third West
pbalian) Mt Mars La Tour. 1t num-
| Dereu O,UOO men, anu CdIllcu OiOoO ihbo
action. 1t lost 500 killed and mortally
wounded. 6l9 wounded and 500 miss
ING: total, |, ,434, or 49.4 per cent. The
Garde-Schutzen Battalion, /, 900 strong,
lost Mt Metz, August 1S, 1862 killed and
mortally wounded, 29l wounded and 9
missing: total 4Gl, or 46.1 per cent.
AS Colonel Fox observes: "a com.
parison of these percentages with those
of the Union regiments in certain bat.
Ties lust cited will give some idea ol
the desperate character of the fighting
durinp the American Civil War"
Tho loss in officers exceeded in pro
norton that of enlisted men. Thus a,
Gettysburg the officers lost 27 per cent
in killed and wounded, while the loss
of the men was q per cent. At Shilol
the loss of officers was q per cent