The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1905-03-19
BATTLE RECORDS
GETTYSBURG AND SHARPSBURG
IN THE LIGHT OF MUKDEN.
S0UTH'S VALOR UNDIMMED
BY Comparison With Other Soldiers.
A Contrast of Views by an
American and an Eng
lish Authority.

\ few days since there was publishe
from Washington. D. c., the following
UNLESS reports from the battle Q
Mukden greatly exaggerate casualtie:
the desperate struggles of the American
civil war have been rendered puny b
comparison. Military men who ar
watching the Eastern contest criticall
believe that the number of men engage,
around Mukden must be much smalle
than commonly reported, and that tn
losses. when the smoke clears away. will
be found much less terrible.
Gettysburg was the greatest battle 0
the civil war, and Antietam the bloodiest
The largest army was assembled by tn,
Confederates in the seven days fighting
and by the Unionists in the Wilderness
Gettysburg has been made matter o.
careful study by the .war records office
and by many historical writer's. Thoma:
L. Livermore in his Numbers and Losse:
in the Civil War regarded here as the
best authority On the subject, since ii
utilizes all the latest materials, places
the number of effectives on the Union
side on the field during the three days
at S2,28o. He gives the Union killed at
3,I55. the wounded at 1889. and the
missing at 5.3o5, which are the war de-
partment figures. The Confederates had
on the same basis of estimate 75,o54 men.
Their casualties, as ordinarily reported,
Colonel Liver1nore has adjusted on the
basis of well established ratios of killed
to wounded, and by using later material
which has come to hand. He places the
Confederate killed at 1908, the wounded
at 1885. and the missing at 5,425.
The seven days battle in 1862 has been
studied On the Union side
he killed numbered 1884, the wounded
S,o62, the missing o,o53, or an aggregate
# 1854 4o~- The Confederate showing in
he same engagement was 3,28I killed,
t5.So4 wounded, and 1926 missing. max
ng total of 2o,171.
"One of the most illuminating COM
,ilations of losses of war is that of the
Irmy of the Potomac from May "a, 1861,
when it made its first advance into Vir-
yinia. to April 9. 1865. This includes all
he Union armies operating in Northern
Virginia, Of whatever name, under the
commands of Mcdowell, Mcclellan.
Pope, Burnside, Hooker, Meads and
Grant. The total number of men engaged
an not be known because it was con-
tantly changing, but McDowe1l's had
10000 in May, 1861, and from that fig
ire it rose to considerably over 100000
n the later years of the war. Mcclellan
lad on the Peninsula, On June 20, 1862,
ust before the Seven Days battle began,
n effective force present of 1I46oI.
Grants force. on April 80, 1864, at the
'eginning of his famous campaign, was
lightly larger. The losses Of such an
rmy were in the aggregate 3o884 killed,
53,827 wounded, and 83,6o4 captured, Or
Missing, making a granl total of casual
les for these armies of Northern Vir-
,inia of 2oS3I5.
There is wide discrepancy between
Union and Confederate records. In war,
t is habitual for commanders to under
stinlate their strength and their losses.
General Sherman in the preparation of
is memoirs, asked war records office to
i've him tables telling the truth, saying:
We were all liars in those days In dis
ussing the contemporaneous figures, he
Explained that whenevez he reported
osses to Washington, he read them a
eW days later in the papers and not only
id he desire to keep the enemy from
moving how badly he was suffering, but
e felt that political conditions in the
Iorth justified this deception"
1t is true there is a. wide discrepancy
etWeen the Union and the Confederate
ecords, but the conquest of the Confed-
racy was accomplished by overwhe1m-
lg numbers, after four years of strug-
le which commanded the admiration of
le world. Against the South there were
lore than 100000 of men enlisted in
le Northern Sattes and recruited from
urope. The South had less than
5000 men, and when one of these was
lied or wounded he could not be re-
aced with hireling. 1t is also true
at the political conditions in the
orth justified this deception" but the
llor of the Confederate soldier can
.ver be din1med by comparison with
e japanese, who are fighters somewhat
ter the style Of the Heroes of the
,t,th. The misfortune of many of our
ople, if it may be so termed, is that /
" Of the generation born since the
eat conflict, are familiar with the bril-
ut achievements of their fathers, and