The Winslow mail., 1898-11-19
VICTIMS OF THE WAR.
Disea5e Has D3wncd Many M5re
I>n Than Bullets Have.
9'he Number oE Soldiers KILLED in Ac-
tion Is Comparatively Smaii-The
LiSt Cannot Yet Be
Made.

(
tion IS Comparatively Smaii-Vhe
LiSt Cannot Yet Be
Made.
The list of casualties in the army
during the war with Spain has not yet
been carefully compiled, ard, in fact,
cannot be completed for months to
come, because included III it must be
the deaths from disease in camp and
hospital, which Will far outnumber
those from the bullets of the enemy
The proportion Of deaths from disease
will probably be larger than in the
civil war.
In 1855 an effort was made to ascer-
tain what the proportion was. 1t re
suited in showing that the aggregate
number Of deaths among the union
troops was 359,528. The number of
| officers and men killed in action was
7,G56 and the number who died from
wounds received in action was 43,012,
making total OF 110,G70, or fraction
over 80 per cent. OF the aggregate. 1t
appeared that 224 5S6 officers and men,
or more than G2 per cent, died Of dis
! case. The remainder of the deaths
were due 10 various causes. No fewer
than 1O6 officers ard 4,828 men were
| drowned, while 142 officers and 3,972
men died from accidental causes other
| than drowning.
According / o Official and semi-o1ficial
reports, which are still subject to re-
vision and correction, the number of
officers ard men of the army killed
in action since the outbreak CT hostili-
ties against Spain has been 282, and
the number wounded 1896, making
total Of 1,778. 1t is probable that ad.
! Giticns will be made to the list ot
killed by subsequent reports. Oh
course, most of the casualties occurred
in the fighting around Santiago, but
even there the number was not eX-
cessively large, considering the stub
| bornncss of the defense and the fact
| that infantry, not backed by suffi.
cicnt amount of artillery, was leo
against the enemy, who were strongly
| intrenched. Most of the fighting was
with small arms and few men in the
| American army at least, were killed
or wounded by shells
The Spanish troops generally were
armed with Mauser rifles, a weapon OF
long range. They used smokeless
| powder and had the advantage CT po.
sition and local knowledge, and made
the most of them. According to all
! theory, the mortality among the
American troops should have beer
much heavier. In fact, one might have
! supposed that superiority of weapons
alone, as compared with those usec
| by infantry 100 years ago. or even 5;
years ago, would have produced the
result.
The battle of Breeds Hill-popular-
! ly called the battle of Bunker Hill
was fought in the days of the flint,
| lock musket and when smokeless pow.
| der was unknown, but the casualties
Cn both sides were relatively much
| heavier than in the battles around
! Santiago. The Americans at that time
| cid not have more than 1,5O0 men ac.
| tually engaged ard the British about
| twice as many The American loss
! was 145 killed and 3O4 wounded, anc
liiC DIIlISu 40 hIl1Gu anu GO WCQAUGNi
At the battle of New Orleans the
American strength engaged was about
5000, and the loss only eight killed
and 13 wounded, while the British less
! with about 10000 men engaged. was
700 killed and twice as many wounded
"a much heavier total loss than that
| CT Skaters army before Santiago.
At New Orleans the British infantry
attacked an intrenched position, as
| it also did at Breeds Hill. At the
! battle of Belmont, in 1861, the number
of union troops actually engaged was
| 2,5C0 and the number of confederates
| between 4,0C0 and 5000. Neither side
fought behind intrenchments The
union loss was 485 killed, wounded
and missing, and the confederate loss
was 642 killed, wounded and missing
| Smokeless powder had not yet been
| invented and muZzle-loading guns were
used by both sides.-Chicago Post.