Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1890-05-22
VALOR AND SKILL,
They Were Displayed by both sides I'm;
gagged in the Civil War.


They Were Displayed by Both sides En-
gagged in the Civil War:
Two articles in the Century discuss
the relative merits of the Blue and the
Gray in the trials of battle. General
Theodore A. Dodge writes to the ques-
ton: WAS either the better soldier?'
and Charles A. Patch asks, (Which was
the better army7" In conclusion, General
| Dodge says that his list of fifty bat
ties gives twenty victories to the Confed-
crates, an equal number to the Federals,
and leaves ten which may fairly be call
ed drawn. In these fifty battles, at the
point of fighting contact, the Confeder-
ates outnumbered the Federals by an
average of about two per cent.
las regards brilliant assaults upon
| regular works, the Confederates were
never called on to show such devotion
as was manifested by the Federals at
| Fredericksburg. the several assaults at
| Nicksburg and Port Hudson, Spotsyl-
vania, Cold Harbor and Petersburg.
Few trials of fighting qualities, in any
war, 60 beyond some of these.
''As will be seen from the table of
! forces, after the winter of 1S63-64 the
| Union forces so vastly outnumbered the
| Confederate, that comparison OF the
merits of actual fighting becomes more
! difficult. We can deduce little from the
! battles except stanch purpose on the
/ Federal, and brilliant courage. coupled
with marvelously able military manage
ment, on the Confederate side. But if
one will take the pains to tabulate the
numbers actually engaged during all but
the last months of the crumbling away
of the Confederate armies, there appear
plainly two facts; first, that the Confed-
+ crates, by superior management and
better position, opposed to tho Federals
fully equal numbers at the point of
fighting contact; and secondly, that of
the cOmbats during the entire struggle
the Federals had their full share of the
victories.
ut is certain that the statistics of the
war rob the wearers of the blue and the
gray of the right to boast one at the exc
pense the other. Neither can claim super
iority in actual battle. The case bears
enough semblance to Greek meeting
Greek to satisfy the reasonable aspira-
tiOns of either 'Yank or Johnny
And in this connection it may not be
amiss, once more, to give our national
self-eStecm a bonnie boUcbe in the follow
ing table:
TABLE OF LOSSES IN sUNDRY BATTLES OF THE
EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES
Perc -nfFge
tkLIed
al I rOUHd d
ofHHTbsT
Hgdgei.
Prussians-TTp TO Waterloo, in battles. 1912
At kOniggretZ ........-. ............. $50
Austrians-Up 10 Waterloo in battles. 1I.l7
Since IN 2..-.--....-...-...--...-.-..... s g
French-Jp TO Waterloo in battles. 22.3S
since IN ~. NO
g ,rmans-Since IT;5 in battles. ....... II 81
English-In4 battles 1895
Federalism II Il. 80
Confcderates-In IL battles ......... H. I6
From this table it is manifest that ex-
cepting only the troops of Frederick, and
of Napoleon, the American volunteer
has shown himself equal to taking the
severest punishment OF any troops on the
field of battle. The wonderful pertina-
cious tactics of those two greatcaptains,
rather than the discipline of their troops,
explains the excess of loss of their bat
ties. And while the capacity to face
heavy loss is but one of the ele-
mcnts which go to make up the soldier,
it is perhaps of them all the most tell
ing.