Omaha daily bee., 1895-09-22


gave 20 tho other the strong hand Of assist.
ance and all united in help, support and sue
cor. Thus Joined they made of the Atlanta
campaign one that is unprecedented in tho
annals Of war. Il is a study In grand STRAIT
egg.
under the able leadership Of a great con-
federate-Gcneral Joseph Il, Johnston, the
Army Of the Southwest, with Hardec, Polk,
Smith and Wheeler commanding corps, made
a lighting retreat most mastery. challenging
the admiration Of every military student.
General Scott said early in the war, Re
ware Of Lee advancing and watch Johnston at
a stand; for the devil himself would be de-
teated In the attempt to whip him retreatlng.'
The history Of that well conducted retreat
from Dalton to Atlanta, with its wonderful
preservation of material, men and morale,
justified the characteristic compliment Of the
old soldier.
WAS A DESPERATE CAMPAIGN.
we inscribed upon our regimental banners
many bright names, among them Dalton,
Rocky Face Ridge. Rescca. Allatoona, Pump
kin Vine Creek, Dallas, New Hope Church,
Kenesaw (where the lamented Harker and
gallant Dan McCook met their glorious fate)
Peach Tree Creek, Chattahootchie, Atlanta,
Jonesboro, Lovejoy's station. 1t was over 100
days Of constant fighting in which Sherman's
loss was killed, 4,423; wounded, 2,S22; miss
ing, 4,442; total, 81 est. The confederate loss
was OsUtt hllleU, lC,JO4 WOuUueu, CdpNuTGu
u 1888, total, S4,979. These suggestive fig
ures show the desperate character Of the
campaign,
"One OF its wonders to me was the man
ner In which our long line Of communication
with the point of supply was sustained. Five
hundred miles of railroad to the Ohio river,
and yet the welcome shrek Of the locomo-
tive followed us with the move Of every day.
Says Carlyle, AN army, like a serpent, goes
upon its belly and that great army Of 1907
600 men was seldom hungry on the move
ment to Atlanta. We captured fifty pieces
of cannon, many of them siege guns, 25, 900
stand Of arms, a vast amount of war ma
terial impossible for the confederacy to re-
place, occupied more new territory and
opened the gate for that march to the sea-
which served to stamp out the expiring en-
bers Of the rebellion.
Men of the Cumberland were Of that IA
nous march, but their duty was a pleasure
jaunt compared with the work of their COM
rades who remained to resist and fight the
army Of Hood-alert, vigorous and eXpe-
rienced. Would that time would permit me
to tell Of Franklin, with the splendid exhibit
ton Of manly courage from Stanley and
Opdycke and of glorious Nashville, the last
signal victory and the final and decisive bat
tie of the west. December, 1864, saw the
end, when the disheartened remnant of
Hoods army was driven for the last time
across the Tennessee. AS General Thomas
expressed 1t in his congratulatory order, 1t
had been finally sent flying, dismayed and
disordered, from whence 1t came, impelled
by the instincts of self-preservation.' Stating
to his victorious troops the result of their
phenomenal campaign he said:
You have diminished the force of the
rebel army since 1t crossed the Tennessee
river to invade the state, at the least esti-
mate, $1,000 men, among. whom were-killed,
wounded and captured-eighteen genera
officers. Your captures from the enemy, SC
far as reported, amount to siXty-eight pieces
Of artillery, 10000 prisoners, as many stand
Of small lrn1G-GaVaral tIn11GanH Of "hioI
have been gathered in, and the remainder
strew the route of the ,enemy's retreat
compelling him to destroy much ammuni.
ton and abandon many wagons
DEADLIEST OF FIGHTING.
Colonel Fox, in his valuable work on the
Losses in the American Civil War says that
battles are considered great in proportion to
the loss of life resulting from them, and that
the history of a battle should always be
studied in connection with the figures that
show the losses. The suggestion is found d
in truth and tried by that standard the i'm
p%ortance of the great battles fought by the
Army of the Cumberland is already shown.
The later gauge or measure of importance
Is usually comparison with the loss sus.
tanned at Waterloo, or Gettysburg, the grelt-
est fields Of the present centu y. Compared
with them, and taking the PERCENTAGE of loss
TO the numbers engaged many Of the battles
entirely fought or participated in by the
SuhibN ialt Tx At Nv uiSbiN ullNdBt. IL IL
true Of Shiloh, Perryville, Stone River an.
C~hickamauga, and the percentage of loss t.
the troops engaged in the battles abour
Atlanta and at Mission Ridge is nearly al
gre at. The desperate ard deadly character o.
the lighting of Americans from north OIL
south is shown by consulting the very in,
t~eresting figures given by Colonel Fox ant
gathered also by that dashing cavalrymar
so pestiferously annoying at times in oul
rear, General joseph Wheeler, late of The
confederate, now of the United States.
"At Waterloo, while the less to the French
army was much in excess and unobtainabl,
with accuracy, Wellington's loss was but /.
per cent. At Gettysburg the federal loss wal
rs per cent and the confederate 80 per cent
At Shiloh the loss to the Army Of Gran
and that II his enemy proportionate.y oqualeC
Gettysburg, and at Chickamauga the tota
loss was over 20 per cent of the entire fore
of both armies, and of the troops actual!
engaged both days it exceeds SO per cent
Longstreet's division lost the second day 4