The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1897-01-15
LOSS OF HORSES IN WAR.
1T Is Far Heavier In Proportion Than
That of Men.


digious, but it's influence has been fatal
in many engagements. Wellington re.
treated from Salamanca mainly, if not
solely, owing to the death of large
proportion of his horses, and the in
efficiency through want and exhaus-
ton, of the remainder. When Napo-
Icons horses were dying at the rate Of
some thousands day in the terrible
Russian wintee he only made light of
it, remarlling that he wished them
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
are destroyed by starvation and dis
ease.
The horse labcrs under the disadvan-
tage of offering greater target area
than the man. When, therefore, charg-
ing cavalry have to cover 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 ST, 100, and 25, respectively; the
killed, wounded and missing horses,
337,259, and 39-or totals of 81 men
and 635 horses. III the Balaklava bat
tie the Light brigade lost 2s0 out Of
ego men, and 960 out of 660 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 Us many men as horses
wounded. Among the British artil
lcry 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, as the French
have given no statistics on this subject
TO the world, we are unable to make the
comparison between the victorious and
defeated armies. One of the fiercest
battles ever fought was that of Won
vile, in which the German cavalry lost
1,400 men and 1000 horses, and their ar
tillery 73O men and over 1000 horses.
Summing up all the instances on REG
ord, a military authority finds the fol-
lowing results: During the century
1901 to 1899, the loss and disablement
of horses was $50 for each 100 men.
From 1900 to 1865, the proportion was,
in cavalry, 120 horses to II men; and in
artillery, 1873 horses to 100 men; while
from 1866 to 1871 the relative numbers
were, for cavalry, 140 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 campaign-and overwork, 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 66,0oQ 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-
yiding 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
hores that we landed in the Crimea
never returned, and most of them owed
their death to exhaustion and starvar
ton. Five hundred artillery horses
were killed under fire; 1000 died of
want and disease. They fed on each
cther's tails, and ate the bottoms of
carts and the spokes of wheels. Dur
ing Wellington's arduous retreat from
Salamanca the only food of the horses
was twigs and the bark of trees, In
our Afghan war of 1888, owing to the
scarcity of food, 5000 camels and so per
cent. of the cavalry horses were lost in
three months. Napoleon crossed the
Niemen on his way to the assault on
Russia with 10000 cavalry, and re-
crossed 1t six months later with 900!
Of the 5000 horses that we landed in
Egypt in 1882, over $500 came under
veterinary treatment, and 600 were
killed, SO only being slain In action.
Mercer in his "Diary of the Waterloo
Campaign" says: "The German never
thinks of himself until his horse Is pro,
vided for; the Englishman looks on his
horse as nuisance and source of per-
petual drudgery." This gentleman, in
deed, goes so far as to assert that, while
the German would sell his clothes to
feed his horse, the Englishman would
sell his horse to buy spirits and tobacco.
There are other avoidable causes of
great loss. Sore backs, from ill-fitted
saddles and too heavy burdens, were
so frequent that at Waterloo there
were squadrons which did not possess
a single sound horse in the ranks. De-
feetive shoeing is another great and
generally avoidable evil. Armies have
been paralyzed from this cause. Nc
Clellan says that in the American civil
war the horses feet were in a deplor-
able state, and soldiers were often seen
leading limping horses, with the feet
of dead horse hanging from the sad
dle-cut off for the sake of the shoes,
In the Franco-German campaign the
roads were often as smooth as glass;
cavalry had to dismount, and artillery
horses fell at every step owing to the
want of means of roughing the shoes.
The Chelsea commission ELECTED from
Lord Lucan the fact that, in the pas