The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-11-04
SURVIVING VETERANS.
There Are n Million and Half Of
Them in thc Country.

Odd things are coming to light every
day to show us what great and mag
nlficent country we have, Just 10
think, il is thirty years since the gerat
war of the rebellion closed, and accord
ing to the census figures of 1890, now
first published, il would take seven en-
Ormous books, each so big that 4 small
boy could not lift II, to contain the
names of all the veterans of that war
still living. The official figures show
that nearly 1.500,O men who tok Iart
in the rebellion were alive when the
census was taken, about six years ago
The exact figures are as follows:
Union soldiers, sailors and marines.l ,Si,V.3
Confederate veterans ............... iS2,o-o
Total I, ,i66, ,093
All but per cent of the men who
took part in the war on the Union side
were white and the remainder were
colored or civilized Indians. OF the
white soldiers 5000 We're born of foreign
parents and 172.00O were born in for
eign countries. In other words, con-
siderably more than one-fOurth of the
Union soldiers We're foreigners either
by birth or parentage. Quite different
are the facts as to the Confederate SOL
diers In the armies on that side of the
line the cOlored troops numbered less
than / per cent of the whole, and the
soldiers who were foreign born or born
Of foreign parents numbered only $4,000
out of n total of $4,000.
Some interesting facts concerning the
geographical distribution of the sur
viving veterans have been Cleaned
from the official reports. A surprising
number of Northern soldiers have set
tied In Dixie since the war. Union vet
Grams are sprinkled all over the South,
from 30150 in Kentucky down to 2,O63
In Georgia, but the number OF Confed-
crate veterans in the North Is much
smaller. The entire northeast. includ-
ing New Jersey and Pennsylvania, con-
tained In 1890 only 2,433, of whom l.014
were in Pennsylvania and 1877 In New
York There We're only II lonely up
holders of the lost cause" In Vermont.
but they had the sympathy of IA Con-
federate widows. The western states
along the Ohio river make little bet
ter showing for the southern veterans,
Ohio containing 1.227, Indiana, 1853. and
Illinois, 1,759. and Kansas has 1876 but
the number dwind9 to ll5 in Wiscon-
sin and 4S in North Dakota. Southern
widows were much fewer In these west
ern states. outside of Missouri, where
they numbered 1910, against 17,55S
southern veterans.
Texas now contains larger number
of Confederate veterans than any other
state, or $1,000, against $4,000 In Vir-
ginia. 47.000 in Georgia and $4,000 In
North Carolina. Pennsylvania con-
tains the largest number of surviving
veterans from the Union side. or O7S0.
Ohio Is second with l0l,602, New York
third with $4,000. Illinois fourth with
II. 900. and Missouri fifth (greatly to
the surprise of many people) with Ca
OOO A comparison of these figures of
the surviving veterans Of the Union
with the number borne on the pension
rolls indicates that more than two
thirds of the veterans are already
drawing pensions. The number of vet
Grams pensioned under the general law
in 1895 was 52,453. and under the act
of 1890, 365l1S exclusive Of 17,767 navy
pensions This made total of 73533S
invalid pensions growing out of the
civil war. or considerably more than
two-thirds of the 1,O34,O73 veterans liv-
ing in 1890.