The Irish standard., 1898-07-23
The seven days fighting which
succeeded Gaines Mill. and in

succeeded Gaines Mill, and in
which the entire armies of Nc
Clellan and Lee were engaged were
all bloody. On the Fourth of July, when
the former reached Harrison's Landing,
he found himself with $4,000 men under
arms, which meant a loss, since the Goth
of June preceding, of 1929 men. OF
these 1852 had been killed, 400 wound
ed and 5,95S missing. The losses of
Lees army during the same period
amounted to some $4,000 men, more than
one-fourth of its effective force.
McClellan's' final great victory at
Antietam was the bloodiest that had so
far been fought in the war. The Fed
eral losses amounted to 2,01O killed,
9,416 wounded and 1,043 prisoners-al-
together 12,469 men, among whom were
and three division commanders. Those
Of Lee, compared with the number OF
his troops, were still heavier. He had
nearly 1000 killed, including two gen.
erals. His little army had been reduced
by at least 10000 in a single day. He
himself acknowledged a total loss of
1867 killed and 8724 wounded in the
battles of Crampton's Gap, Turner's
Gap, Harper's Ferry and Antietam.
These figures are for the most part less
than those given by his subordinates.
Lee makes no mention of the number
of able-bodied prisoners left in the
hands Of the Federals, but Longstreet
acknowledges 1916 for his own corps,
and D. H. Hill 925 for his division. Nc
Clellan puts the total of prisoners at
5000. fair average between these
conflicting statements would make the
number $500.
Thus, according to the account of the
genera-in chief Of the Confederate
armies, his losses at Antietam and the
four days preceding were at least $4,000
men. Four-fifths Of these losses were
incurred at Antietam itself.
Grants operations against Vicksburg
from May 1 to July 4, 1868, when that
city capitulated, were costly, not only in
treasure, but in blood. During that time
he took some $4,000 prisoners, while
General Banks, who had been in the
field since the middle of April, took
1854. The number of killed and wound
ed in the armies opposed to them
amounted to nearly $4,000, total of
Coma eS mn oo,o1,o +op+c tol,or fro,n +brf
Confederate ranks in the course of three
months. But Grant mad bought his vic
tory at the cost of 1,243 killed, 1855
wounded and 535 prisoners, or 8,s73 in
all, while Banks had lost between 5000
and 1000 men.
The losses Of the Confederates at Mur-
freesboro, or Stone River, were un-
usually great. They themselves acknowl-
edged them to be nearly 1900 men--
more than 5000 of whom were either
killed or wounded-or loss of about
one-third of the effective force engaged.
The Federals lost some $4,000, but this
number was barely two-sevenths of the
total effective force OF these, 1853 were
killed and 7,245 wounded.
At Fredericksburg Lees losses
amounted to 5000, of whom 595 were
killed, 3,961 wounded and G53 taken pris-
oners. Burnsides loss was more than
twice as large, l. e., 1858 men, or 1924
killed, $500 wounded and 1859 missing.
Next to Gettysburg, however, the
hardest fought and the bloodiest battle
of the war was that of Chickamauga.
The largest number of troops Rosecrans
had of all arms on the field during the
two days fighting, was $4,000 effective
men. His losses aggregated 1886; or
killed 1867, wounded 1884, missing
5,255. Bragg, during the battle, when
his entire five corps were engaged, had
about 10000 effective troops in line. A
full report of his losses was never
made, but they have been estimated at
2,C73 killed, 1924 wounded and 200S
missing, total of 20,950.