Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1898-05-07
aetiseellansons 8eadia1s.
THE COST OF WAR.
Enormous Outlay of Men and Money as
Shown In the Records.

Enormous Outlay of Men and Money al
| Shown In the Records.
Ispecial Dispatch to Globe-Democrat.
| WASHINGTON, D. c., April 3O.-Or
the daybreak of a struggle in which
for the first time in over a half cen
tury, the United States has been lined
up as a whole against an opposing foe
it is interesting to glance back to the
American conflicts, and as we'll tc
some of the more important wars oi
the century now closing. There has
been a general impression, erroneous
to be sure, that Uncle Sans battle
month is April, and that he has al
ways begun his scraps with his neigh
bors during the month of showers
This is not fact, although the Revo'
Tuition started April 10, ITS, the Black
Hawk war April 21, 1881, and the re-
bellion April 13, 1861, although really
the first blood shed was in the streets
of Baltimore, when the Sixth Massa'
chusetts encountered the mob April 49,
while en- route from the Hub to the
capital. Some comparison of the
number of men and the cost of these
various struggles serve to show the
growth of the country.
The Revolution cost in round num-
bers, according to the best estimate
obtainable, S5,199,7O3, and in this
struggle, which lasted within eight
days of eight years, there were EN-.
ployed, during the whole time, 294, ,791
men, divided as follows: Regulars.
13O,771 militia and volunteers, l64,
900. No accurate figures, as to the
number of men lost, can be obtained
The first battle was at Lexington and
Concord, and the cessation of hotilities
came April II, 1888.
The next time that your Uncle Sam
uel had occasion to call upon his boys
to show the stuff they were made Of
came in 1912, war being declared by
the president June 1S, of that year
While there had been no battles fought
previous to the declaration of hostil.
tiles, vet Great Britain had angered
the young nation by insisting on its
claimed right to impress into the Brit
|ish navy former subjects of Great Brit.
ain, wherever found. This war closed
on February II: 1915. There were
Engaged in the strife total force OF
All, ,622 men, of whom only about S5,
900 were regular soldiers and seamen
the rest being volunteers. This wal
of nearly three years cost in round
numbers $1O7, $4,000.
The next could hardly be called a
war, although it is designated in his
tory as the Black Hawk war. There
lis no data preserved by which an &C
curate estimate could be given either
as to the cost or the number of men
engaged. The war lasted little over
a year, beginning in April, 1881, and
ending September 80, 1882. The Sem
linole war is hardly worth the name o1
more than series of scrimmages.
1t was Is years after the outbreak
with the Black Hawk Indians that the
American eagle again became war-like
and plumed itself for battle. Pres
Iident Polk notified congress, in May
1S46, that less than month before
a small detachment of United States
troops had been captured by the Mex
leans. Congress at once declared war
and authorized the president to raise
an army of $4,000 men and to spend
slO, 1000 900. From the best records
obtainable in the war department., il
is shown that the United States put
into the field an army of 30,954 regu'
lars and 1915 volunteers. This war
which ended in 1S4S, cost about $780,
100000.
The great struggle, which came in
1S61-65, was the most expensive the
country ever saw, both from its cost
in priceless human life and in the
money spent. Reckoned as a whole
the country spent for this war no less
than S7,4OO, 100000, of which the
north expended $780, 900, and
the devoted people of the south the
balance in upholding a hopeless cause
1t is estimated that, during the whole
of the war, Uncle Sans boys num-
bered altogether 2,0lS,2O0 men, but
the number of men which the south
put into the field could only be esti.
mated, at best. The losses sustained
by the armies in the war of the rebel
lion have been stated as high as 600,
900 men, but ex-Deputy Commissioner
of Patents Bell states that this is great
ly exaggerated, as the best figures
obtainable show the total losses did
not exceed 101 800. In citing instan'
ces of exaggeration he said it was
claimed that at Gettysburg something
like 10000 men were lost, while, as
matter of fact, in that three days
fight the Union forces had killed 1884
men and the Confederates $500 men
The battle Of the Wilderness, accord
ing to this authority, had much greater
fatalities, as the Union loss then was
5,597 and the Confederate loss about
1000. Thus it can be seen that Uncle
Sam altogether has spent for wars
S7,742 1852, ,7O6, and has put into the
field in various ways total OF 1855,
16S men, armed and equipped fol
fighting, not counting the Indian