The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1899-12-22

AZ Il IleuisiHt, loUi, SOooU II Ieucu
fought $4,000 Russians, with combin-
ed loss of $4,000.
Mere figures. however large, do not
suggest the sanguinary features of 3
battle. and the mind is more strongly
impressed by the description of some
bloody episode than with figures that
suggest wholesale slaughter Battles
which figure in history We're bloody, or
they would not be singled out for inn
mortal fame.
The following 10 battles of the muz-
zle loading. bayonet period represent
the martial nations of the world:
/. Eilau, 1907. Loss. &c per cent.
2. Bunker Hill, 1775 Loss, 81 per cent.
8. Stone River <Murfreesboro), 1852 Loss, 231s
per cent.
4. Marengo 1900. Loss % per cent.
5. ChickSnlsuga, 1862 Loss, q per cent.
6. Antetam, 1862 Loss, 81 per cent.
z. Lepsic 1913. Loss 81 per cent.
8. Gettysburg, 1868. Loss, 20 per cent.
8. Shiloh, 1862. Loss, 90 per cent.
10. Lundy's Lane. 1914. Loss, 10 per cent
II. Mars-la-Tour, 1870. Loss. l6 per cent.
IL. Waterloo, 1914. Loss, IA per cent.
Is. Woerth, 1870 Loss, IA per cent
Il. Solferno, 1889 Loss, 10 per cent.
Is. Sadowa, 1886. Loss, IL per cent.
Borodino is omitted for lack of au-
thentic returns.
The percentage placed opposite Bun
ker Hill awakes no sensation COM
pared to that Of reading that the
American order to the soldiers was,
"Wait till you see the whites Of the
eyes of the Britishers. and then fire at
their waistbands' At Stone River
the Confederates rolled the Federal
line up from left to right. The battle
was mainly fought in dense thickets.
Had Napoleon lost Marengo he would
have lost his army, for it was isolated
In the enemy's country. At o'clock
in the afternoon the day was lost, but
he turned the tide by the most fright
full sacrifice Of his best cops.
Chickamauga was a field where the
battle waged fiercely around one point.
In defending the road for retreat on
the Federal left Thomas won fame
as the Rock of Chickamauga," and
there the assailants piled their fallen
the thickest. There the defenders died
in their tracks.
Antietam left behind it's Bloody
Lane" piled with dead; it's "Sunken
Road" it's "Cornfeld," where the fall
en- lay in rows, with their dead leaders
in position just in the advance The
loss of 10000 killed and wounded took
place between daylight and noon. The
field Of Shiloh was fought over in de-
tail twice. The bloodiest spot was
the Hornets Nest where the Con-
federate leader. A. Sidney Johnston,
was killed Cold Harbor was but half
as bloody as Shiloh in percentages, yet
there were regiments there which lost
half their numbers in a single dash.
Fredericksburg had it's slaughter
pen at the famous stone wall, which
was stormed again and again, each
line apparently spurred with the desire
to leave it's dead little nearer the
barrier than it's predecessors.
The bloodiest battles of the civil war,
in the order Of the highest aggregate
loss, where the number killed outright
reached 1000 on each side:
/. Gettysburg, 1863. $4,000 Union and 75 900
Confederates opposed. Union loss, 1860 kill
ed and wounded; Confederate. 1891; total.
$3.50.
g. Spottsylvania, 1854. The Union loss in killed
and wounded was 1911. The forces opposed
were approximately $4,000 Union and GA 900
Confederate.
wounded. 14,2S3; Confederate records incom-
plete
A. Chickamauga, 1863 $1,000 Union and 1880
Confederates opposed. Union loss in killed
and wounded, 11,405; Confederate, 1891; to-
tai, 272O6.
g. Charlottesville, 1868. 100000 Union and Co.
600 Confederatcs opposed. Union loss, II 1868
killed and wounded; Confederate. 1875; to-
tai, 22,123.
g. Antietam, 1862. 6O.OOO Union and 10000 Con-
federates engaged. Union loss, 1867 killed
and wounded; Confederate, 932s; total, 20,9s5.
T. Shiloh 1862. $4,000 Union and 10000 Confed-
crates engaged Union loss, 1O,l62 killed and
wounded; Confederate, 9,74o; total, 1902.
8. Cold Harbor, 1864. $4,000 Union and Ga 900
Confederates opposed. Union loss, 1927 kill
ed and wounded Confederate, compa: atiyely
slight.
9. Second Bull Run, or Manassas, 1862. $4,000
Union and $4,000 Confcderates engaged. IN
ion loss. lO,199 in killed and wounded; Con-
federate. 93G5; total, 1864
10. Stone River. 1862 $1,000 Union and 81 900
Confederatcs engaged. Union loss 1882 killed
and wounded: Confederate, $780, total, 49, I'll
IL. Fredericksburg, 1862. $4,000 Union and 60,
600 Confederates opposed Union loss, 1oss4
killed and wounded; Confederate. 4. 724; total,
| l5.60S.
Conservative estimates place the loss
in killed and wounded at Eilau as 49,
GOO. The figures of Gettysburg are Of
fetal. and the total is little short Of
$4,000. Eilau belongs to the smooth
bore and (IettyShurp TO the rif1ed bar-
rel era. AS weapons improve casual
| ties grow less in percentages. The
! highest percentage in the Franco-Prus-
sian war, with the breechloader. was
49, ut Mars-laTour, and the highest
aggregate $4,000, at Gravelotte. The
killed numbered about 5000 at Grave
lottes At Gettysburg the mortality
/ was over 9,0Co out of $4,000 casualties
GEORGE l.. KIEMER.