Crawford avalanche., 1900-04-05
vision lost 2,o2s killed ana wounded out

OF 4,co4 paper Strength, tnat eQudlS IL
per cent. Caldwell's brigade numbered
1887 on paper, and lost 952 killed and
wounded-that Is to say, so per cent.
In forlorn hope attack upon log
breastworks at Petersburg in 1864 the
First Maine heavy artillery carried S32
men in line and lost 632 killed and
wounded in q rush that kept them un-
der fire not to exceed seven minutes.
At Gettysburg, during a crisis. the First
Minnesota was called upon to charge a
moving line Of Confederates and cap
ture its colors, in order to stagger the
assailants, who were marching upos
Federal batteries The Confederates
held their fire until the daring Yankees
were close up, and 215 Of the Mime
sotans out of 262 were struck down
upon a few square yards of earth, just
at the point of contact In the second
battle of Bull Run, 1862, Duryee's zou-
aves stood up in front of a battery
which was being mobbed by Confeder-
ate troops and left 119 dead companions
stretched in regular rows around wheel
ruts and trail. prints on the spot where
the guns had stood. The regiment mum.
bered 4T0 at the beginning of the fight.
The heaviest losers at the battle of
Gettysburg were two opposing regi-
ments-the Twenty-fourth Michigan
and the Twenty-sixth North Carolina.
They fought in the first days battle al
most man for man in the dueling con-
test which took place in McPherson's
woods. At the end of the day nothing
remained of either regiment except
their flags and two pitiful squads Of
battle-grimed soldiers. The Michigans
lost 397 out of 496, and the North Caro-
linas 6SS out of $40.
The casualties Sustained by these
troops were almost entirely from mus
kerry fire. Instances might be cited to
show that, under certain circumstances,
artillery fire was still more deadly dur
ing the civil war. 1t must be taken for
granted that such was the case when
ever solid bodies of troops marched up
to the cannon's mouth. In Pickett's
charge. when the assaulting column
closed in on the Federal works, the
Federal batteries stationed there In
some Instances used double charges of
canister at ten PAGES; that means that
the assailants who had the courage to
march up to the muZzles were swept
from the ground by iron hail. At the
battle of Franklin. Tenn, the slaughter
Of the Confederate columns upon the
ground where the heaviest fighting took
place was frightful in the extreme.
Much of the execution at that fight was
due to cannon fire. The Confederate
army was about 10000 strong and be-
gan the attack on the Federal fortified
position at the close of November day,
probably as late as 4 80 p. M, so that
there was not two hours of daylight
for fighting. Only one corps of the
Confederates actually closed in on the
Federal works.. and it's strength was
probably not over $4,000 men. In the
battle there were 5000 Confederates
killed and wounded. among them thir-
teen general officers. The officers who
fell. were found close to the Federal
breastworks,. in some.cases in the ditch,
where they had been shot from their
horses while attempting to ride over
the works at the heads of their col
umns The scenes Witnessed at the
battle eof Franklin have seldom been
equaled during the century.
Since the Franco Prussian war there
has not been conflict between armies
equally equipped until the present In
the battles between Russia and Turkey
the Turks had inferior weapons. Being
fanatical fighters, like the dervishes in
the Sudan, they were slaughtered. by
the breechloaders and dynamite shells
of the foe.S ~
To 90 back still farther for examples
of the execution of weapons in war.
fare, Il Is interesting to look at the rec
ords of battles I'm the seventeenth cen
tury, In seven great battles of that
era, when tie masses carried muskets
and pixies. the average of casualties wai
2G per cent, so that each man stood but
about three chances In four Of es
cape. The casualties In the bloodlest
battles. run as high as 35 per cent In
this class belongs the battle of Lutzen
which proved a victory for the Swedes
but their leader. Gustavus Adolphus
was killed, and one of his regiments lay
upon the ground In the order in which
the men had stood while lighting. In
the middle OF the eighteenth century
the bayonet attached TO the musket su
perseded the pike. There were twenty
three great battles fought with smooth