The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1896-01-09
Killed. Wounded. Prisoners
Year.
Total, 1SG1-'G5. 5 1913 194.O26 2O2. 2S3

1863 ..........11,S16 01,313 71,211
1S64-1SG5 .....22,2OO 10000 $4,000
Total, 1SG1-'G5. 53,973 194,O26 2O2, 2S3
During the period of nineteen
months, January, 1862, to July, 1868,
inclusive, owe 100000 cases Of
wounds and disease were entered upon
the Confederate field reports and over
100000 cases of wounds upon the hos
pital reports The number Of cases Of
wounds and disease treated in the Con-
federate field and general hospitals
We're, however, greater during the fol-
lowing twenty-five months ending
April, 1865. 1t Is safe to affirm, there
fore, that more than 100000 cases Of
wounds and disease were cared for
by the officers Of the medical corps Of
the Confederate army during the civil
war Of 1S61-65. The figures, of course,
do not indicate that the COnfederacy
had In the field an army approaching
100000. On the contrary the Confed-
crate forces engaged during the war,
1S61-1S65, did not exceed o 1900. Each
Confederate soldier was, on an aver
age, disabled for greater or lesser pc
Rod, by wounds and sickness, about six
times during the war.
Confederate forces actively en-
gagged during the war 1961-'65. 100000
Grand total of deaths from bat
tie wounds and disease. .... POO, 600
Losses of Confederate army in
prisoners during the war on ac-
count of the policy of non-eX-
change adopted and enforced by
the United States. 200, 900
Losses of the Confederate army
from discharges for disabilities
from wounds and diseases and
assertions during the years 1861
W . .1OO,OOO
If this calculation be correct, one
third Of all the men actually engaged
on the Confederate side were either
killed outright on the field or died Of
disease or wounds; another third Of
the entire number were captured and
held for Indefinite periods prisoners Of
war, and Of the remaining 100000 at
least one-half We're lost to the service
by discharge and desertion. At the
close Of the war the active available
force in the field and those fit for duty
scarcely numbered 100000.
The great army of Northern Virginia,
surrendered by Gen. Robert E. Lee
on April 8, 1865, could not muster TO-
600 men tit for active warfare. OF this
body of GOO, 900 men 90, 773 were killed
outright and 104,026 wounded on the
battlefield. One-third Of the entire
Confederate army was cOnfided to the
Confederate surgeons for the treatment
Of battle wounds, and in addition to
such gigantic services the greater por-
ton, If not the entire body Of 600,O 900
men, We're under the care of the medi-
cal department for the teatment Of dis
ease. The whole number Of troops
mustered into the service Of the North
ern army during the war Of 1S61-65 was
2,7S9,S93, or about three times as large
as the entire fighting population Of the
Confederate States. At the time Of the
surrender of the Confederate armies
and the close Of active hoStilities the
Federal force numbered 1000, SIG Of all
arms, officers and men, and equaled in
number the entire fighting population
Of the Southern COnfederacy.
Opposed to this immense army of
100000 supplied with the best Of
equipments and arms, and with the
most abundant ratiOns and food, the
Confederate Government could oppose
less than 100000 war-wOrn and battle
Scared veterans, almost all of whom
had, at some time, been wounded, and
who had followed the desperate for
tunes Of the Confederacy for four years,
with Scant supplies of rations and al
most without pay, and the spirit Of the
Confederate soldier remained proud
and unbroken to the last charge, as was
conclusively shown by the battles of
Franklin and Nashville, Tenn; the ope-
rations around Richmond and Peters
burg; the last charge of the army Of
Northern Virginia; the defense Of Fort
McAlliSter Oh the Ogeechee River In
Georgia, where go Confederate sol.
diers, in an open earthwCrK, resisted
the assaults of more than 5000 Federal
troops and never surrendered, but We're
cut down at their guns; at West Point
Ga, where there was a similar dispari
ty between the garrison and the assault
ing corps, where the first and second
in command were killed, and the Con
federates cut down within the fort; the