The National tribune., 1903-06-04
REBEL LOSSES.

this memorial occasion to the uses of
games and gaiety."
REBEL LOSSES.
EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: In n re-
cent issue you give the losses of the Union
army in the civil war. The inquiry arises,
What were the Confederate losses? NV
belief is that the South lost as many men
as the North, yet, because of the universal
belief in the South that the North only
lost men. accurate statistics cannot be
obtained. For instance, Alabama's S losses
were greater than those of Ohio but
venture the assertion that no citizen of
Alabama can be found to contradict the
statement that Ohio lost 10 men where
his State lost one. From July /, 1865, to
April, 1869, l was in charge of q large
military district in n Southern State, and
was in constant association with its peo-
pie. In that period l never met an ex-
Confederate soldier who had seen Confed-
crate dead as sequence of battle, save in
the exceptional sense. One who had been
an Aid on Gen. Early's staff and against
whom l had been pitted in two cam
paigns, always insisted that at Gettys-
burg and in the Sheridan battles from
Fort Stevens here to Cedar Creek in 1864
and to the end at Appomattox, the Con-
federate losses were simply insignificant.
The only means of reaching an opinion
was to ask the ex-Confederate, ''How
many men did you lose out of your COM
pany: One Captain who had never seen
Confederate dead in battle lost nine men
killed outright in one fight, six in another,
four again, and SO on as his company de-
creased in numbers. Another officer, now
a neighbor, afflicted at first with the same
opacity Of eyesight and failure to count
the dead on his side, finally admitted that
of 1OO men he carried into the service
there came time when only four re-
mained. At an open campfire of my Post,
Col. Jack Brown, gallant commander of
a crack Georgia regiment. was present,
federate claim of losses, said Il
have seen Confederate dead" but
without particulariza ton in any degree
discoursed at length of Yankee losses
here and there thai he had seen
in attacks on forts. A comrade sit
ting near me said when Brown concluded:
II give it up: he never saw Confederate
dead" Every soldier who participated in
the taking of fort knows that the assail-
ant must necessarily lose the more men;
yet, in the general squaring up of the civil
war, he also knows that there must have
!. been, perforce, an equality of losses. As
already said, Alabama lost more men than
my native State, Ohio though she mus
tered four to Alabama's one, and l am
confident that Virginia lost more men than
!, either State. But what are the facts in
generalization? How many men did the
Confederate States lose? You are not af-
ficted with battle stra bismus. Tell us. if
only ppro0ximately.-STAF OFFICER,
: Washington, d. G.
There is no hope that we shall ever
. enough in making accurate reports, but
theirs incolnparably worse. In the major.
, ity Of instances they did not attempt to
make any reports Of deaths from either
disease or battle, any more than they did
the number of men that they put into
their ranks. They simply gathered up all
the available men they could reach, filled
up their companies with them, and went
on with the war, feeding and clothing
, them as best they could, seldom making
record Of those who died in camp or on
. the field The presumption is reasonable
, that they lost more men by disease than
we did, for the reason that their sanitary
, arrangements and medical skill were vast
ly inferior to ours, and their men were
p drawn from a more ignorant class, living
remote from civilization, and less able to
] take care OF themselves in camp than
: ours. Unquestionably they must have
3 lost quite as many men by shot and shell
4 as we did, for bullet fred from a Yankee
D gun was quite as deadly rs one fired from
D a rebel piece. The only hope that We
: have of any approximation Of their losses
i comes from the present desire to have
hisotries written of the parts taken by the
different States of the South in the war
State pride is SO far instrumental in con
e tradicting their claim that they had only
100000 men in the army by the claim
made for each Of the States for which
histories written Of the parts taken by the
d they contributed to the Confederate army
e Ii the other States which are yet to write
+ histories do as well as those already writ
: ten up, it will appear that the rebels ha(
puc uo!ITIu aao uuql sIom IBJ pIey sql u
ia half of soldiers. In showing how much
o they suffered, we shall probably get some
t idea OF the aggregate losses among tht
o Confederate troops. We can only sa,
!, now that it must have been fully us grea
|, as the Union side.