The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1897-01-02
Loss d noRsEs IN WAR.
q Il Far Heavlsr In proportion Than

horses in war. Yet not only is It pro-
digious, but its influence has been fatal
in many engagements. wellington re-
treated from Salamanca mainly, II not
solely, owing to the death Of q large
proportion Of his horses, and the In
efficiency through want and exhars-
ton, Of the remainder. When Napo-
Icons horses were dying st the rate Of
some thousands q day in the terrible
Russian winter he only made lightiof
Il, remarking that he wished them a
happy journey. But his campaign
might have terminated differently If
the horses had not died. The loss Of
horses is much greater than the loss Of
men, and by far the greater proportion
nre destroyed by starvation and dis
ease.
The horse labors under the disadvan-
tage of offering a greater target area
than the man. When, therefore, charg-
ing cavalry have to ' a good deal of
ground before reaching the enemy,
more horses than men are likely to be
killed by the enemy's artillery and by
small arms. At Fontenoy, where the
British cavalry were exposed to heavy
fire from the French artillery, the
killed, wounded and missing men NUM-
bered 81, 100, and rs, respectively; the
killed, wounded and missing horses,
337,259, and 39-or totals of S11 me-
and 635 horses In the Balaklava bait
tie the Light brigade lost $50 out of
GOO men, and $50 out of geo horses.
In the battle of Waterloo the French
fire is said to have been heavy, giving
the result in the cavalry of nearly twice
as many horses as men being killed,
nearly twice as many men as horses
wounded. Among the British artil
lery engaged there were six times as
many horses as men killed and half as
many horses as men wounded. The
Franco-German war furnishes trust
worthy evidence of what we may ex,
pect in the future. But, hsBhe French
have given no statistics ON this subject
TO the world, we aresunable to make the
comparison between the victorious and
defeated armies. One of the fercest
battles ever fought was that of Won
vile, in which the German cavalry lost
400 men and 1000 horses, and their ar
tillery $50 men and over 1000 horses.
Summing up all the instances on rec.
ord, a military authority finds the fol.
lowing results: During the century
1891 to 1899, the loss and disablement
of horses was $50 for each 100 men.
From 1900 t. 1865, the proportion was
in cavalry, 100 horses to 100 men; and in
artillery, 1S3 horses to 100 men; while
from 1866 to 1871 the relative numbers
were, for cavalry, 14O horses to 100 men,
and, for artillery, 1873 horses to 100 men.
By emitting the disastrous Austrian re-
treat of 1866, the average would work
out at 112 horses to 100 men. And this
is the proportion likely to obtain in the
future.
But loss of horses under fire is small
compared with loss from other causes.
Want Of food-an incident Of every
great OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES, with
their natural accompaniment, disease,
are the great destroyers Of both char
gers and draught horses. At the be-
ginning Of the siege of Plevna the Rus
slams had $4,000 draught horses bring
ing up supplies from Sistova, and at the
end of it they had only $4,000. the enor,
nous number of $4,000 having died
from hard work. The difficulty of pro-
giding food is naturally very great, and
horses feel the deprivation, as well as
want of rest, far more than men. They
have very little reserve Of fat to draw
upon, and they have not the moral
stimulus Of the. soldiers. Half The
nAee kwe landed in the Crimea
never returned, and most Of them owed
their death to exhaustion and sfarva'
tion. Five hundred artillery horse
were killed under fire; 1000 died 81
want and disease. They fed on each
others tails, and ate the bottoms 81
carts and the spokes of wheels. Dur
ing Weningtonss arduous retreat fronl
Salamanca the only food Of the horses
was twigs and the bark of trees. II
our Afghan war of 1888, owing to The
scarcity of food, 5000 camels and so pei
cent. of the cavalry horses were lost ir
three months. Napoleon crossed the
Niemen on his way to the assault or
Russia with 10000 cavalry, and re.
crossed it six months later with 1000.
OF the 5000 horses that we landed in
Egypt in 1882, v $500 came under
veterinary treatment, and GOO wer.
killed, SO only being slain in action.
Mercer in his 'Diary Of the Waterloo
Campaign" says: 1.-THE German nevei
thinks of himself until his horse is PR
vided for; the Englishman looks on bill
horse as a nuisance and source of per
petual drudgery." This gentleman, in.
deed, goes 50 far as TO assert that, while
the German would sell his clothes t
/, feed his horse, the Englishman woult
sell his horse to buy spiritsand tobacco
There are other avoidable causes b
great loss. Sore backs, from ll-fttet
saddles and o heavy burdens, wer,
50 frequent that at Waterloo ther,
were squadrons which did not possess
4 single sound horse in the ranks. De
~fective shoeing is another great ant
generally avoidable evil. Armies hav,
been paralyzed from this cause. Nc
Clellan says that in the American civi
Rar the horses feet were in a deplor
able state, and soldiers were often seer
leading Emping horses, with the fee
d af i Iaad horea har,gtnw frcrn ~, 80