Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1890-05-08
SURVIVING VETERANS.
ESTIMATE OF THE PROBABLE NUMBER
OF THOSE LIVING AND THE NUMBER
EACH SUCCEEDING YEAR UNTIL
All APE GONE

OF THOSE LIVING AND THE NUMBER
EACH SUCCEEDING YEAR UNTIL
ALL ARE GONE.
DR.. F. c. Ainsworth, who is in charge
of the Record and Pension Division OF
the war Department at Washington, and
who is the best informed man in the
country on statistics of the war pertain
ing to his branch of the subject, has Just
completed memorandum relative to
the probable number and ages of the
army and navy survivors of the War of
the Rebellion. This paper is of deep in
terest to veterans and their friends and
to all who make a study of pension
questions and pension possibilities. The
tables presented have been brought up to
the first day of the present month.
DR.. Ainsworth prefaces his statement
with an explanation that, while exact
figures cannot be obtained, he considers
those given by him as very nearly ac-
curate. He says:
As shown by the latest official state
ment, the number of men furnished by
the different States and Territories
during the war, under calls from the
President, was 2,77S,304. Deducting
from this the number of seamen and
marines, 105, 1868, leaves a total of 2,672,-
341 credited to the army.
No official compilation has ever been
made of the total number of re-enlist-
ments in the army, but various estimates
have been made by different authorities
ranging from $4,000 to 716,767. The
mean between these two numbers, 543,-
1893, is believed to be a fair approxima-
ton of the actual number. Deducting
this from the total credited to the army,
leaves 2,128.948 as the number of indi-
vidual soldiers serving in the war.
The number of deaths for the army is
359,528, and the number of actual de-
serters at large at the close of the war
(making due allowance for those incor-
rectly reported as deserters) has been
estimated at 117,247. Deducting the
deaths and deserters, leaves 1862, ,173 as
the probable number of individual sol
diers who were alive at termination of
service and were not deserters.
The total number of men credited to
the several States as having been fur
nished to the navy and marine corps
during the war was 105,963. This figure
is taken as the basis of calculation, and
not the number of enlistments as reported
by the Navy Department, which is be-
lieved to include a large number of
transfers from the army, and these have
already been counted in the army esti-
mate. No data are at hand from which
to estimate the number of e-enlistments,
but assuming that their proportion was
the same as in the army, the total num-
ber of individuals in the service was
S4,417. No information has been obtained |
as to the actual number of desertiOns,
but again assuming that the army pro-
portion is applicable, the number would
be 4,649 The deaths, as reported by the
Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, num-
bered 1883, Deducting the deaths and |
desertions, leaves $3.50 as the probable
number of seamen and marines who were
alive at the termination of service and
we're not deserters.
Combining the foregoing estimates it
appears that the total number of indi-
7iduals in the military and naval service
Turing the war was 2,213,365, and of
,hese 1,727, 1853 were alive at the termi-
nation of service (deserters excluded.
As in the case of re-enlistments, no
,fficial compilation has been made of
he ages of the men in service at any
period of the war. From statistics of !
he ages at enlistments of about 1,OO0,-
100 soldiers, collected by the United |
states Sanitary Commission, DR.. B. A.
Iould, Actuary of the Commission,
Ormed estimates of the number of men i
n each year of age. In the absence of !
,etter information, and assuming that !
he ages of soldiers, seamen and marines {
we're relatively the same, the tables pub
ished by DIR. Gould have been taken as
he basis for calculating table which {
hows the probable number of men
,2S5, ,400) who will arrive at the age of E
2 years or over, June 80, 1890, and of ,
he probable number (149, ,541 that will 4
ttain the age of 81 in each succeeding d
ear until practically all shall have passed l
hat age. Another table shows the h
robable total number of survivors lex ;
luding deserters) on June 80 of each \
ear from 1890 to 1909 inclusive, and at h
ne close of each quinquennial period I
rom 1910 until none shall remain n
The table showing the probable total h
lumber of survivors of the war of the :
ebellion Excluding deserters) on June T
of each year from 1890 to 1909 in T
Iusive, and at the close of each quin h
uennial period thereafter until none n
hall remain, follows: Y
Iear. Survivors Year. Survivors. n
90. Al 1904 ............ S5SOO2 2,
81 ,261, ,2S2 1895 ............ S2O9S7 u
92 2S6,076 1906 ............ 7S2,722 II
SO. L POS, ,96S 1907 I+4l6 Si