The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1905-01-26
Civil War Losses.

Civil War Losses.
o. W. Norton, In letter to the Chi,
cago Post. says: Many of your read
ers are interested In the war between
Russia and japan. and following the
accounts of the battles are appalled,
by the great losses reported In each
Of the armies. These losses seem enor-
nous. and the impression L. general
that the world has not seen before
such desperate fighting. Comparative
ly few Of your readers are old enough
to remember the fighting in our own
civil war. and fewer still have made
any study Of the statistics OF our own
losses In battle. Modern weapons. es-
pecially the small arms with their
small bullets. are much more merciful
than those used in our great war,
when the bullets were one inch long
and fifty-three one-hundredths inches
in diameter. causing fearful wounds.
The papers report that a very large
proportion of the men wounded on
both sides Of the present war have al
ready recovered and returned to the
ranks. The newspaper accounts Of
the great slaughter in these battles
are usually exaggerated and the fig
ures greatly reduced by the official re-
ports.
Perhaps your readers would be in
terested in some statistics Of the civil
war, comparing them with reports of
battles In the East. The following fig
ures are taken from a book compiled
by William F. Fox, entitled "Regi-
mental Losses In the Civil War;" This
book is accepted as authoritative. and
by far the most reliable publication in
the statistics presented. The figures
are not estimated losses, nor taken
from the accounts of sepcial CORE
spondents In the field They are COM
piled from the muster rolls and official
reports on file in the War Depart
mens-
The following table gives the per-
centage Of loss In several regiments
In one battle to the number of men
engaged in that battle, ranging from
90 per cent to 50 per cent of the men
who entered any one battle. In the
table from which l copy these figures
there are large number Of other
regiments In which the losses exceed
ed half the number engaged. but this
list is long enough to show what stuff
our American soldiers were made of.
The list includes killed. wounded and
missing. A small portion Of those re-
ported missing were taken prisoners.
but the greater part were reported
missing in battles where no prisoners
were taken. and were so reported. be-
cause at the time the report was made
1t was not known absolutely whether
they were dead or severely wounded
and left on the field:
Per Ct
Regiment and Rattle- loss
One Hundred and Fifty-frst Pennsyl-
vania-Gettysburg .......... 1877
One Hundred and First New York
Twenty-hfth Massachusetts Har. 49,
ThIrty-slxth wisconsin = Bethesda
Twentieth Observation-Disclosures ''''
burg 80. .....:.:................. es.4
Eighth vermont-Cedar Greek -. 67.9
kighty-hrst Pennsylvania-Frederfc
burg Observation-Disclosures. GA
Twelfth ssachusetts-Antietam 80. CT
First Maine III. A.-Petersburg ~ &c 8
Ninth Louisiana (Colored)-Miliken's
One Hundred and Eleventh New York "
Gettysburg .:................... ss.s
Twenty-fourth MISUNDERSTANDING 63.7
Fifth New Observation-Disclosures
burg g.: observation-disclosures. es.e
Ninth IIiinois-Shiloh .-............. $50
Ninth New York-Antietam ....... SO
Fifteenth New Jersey-Spottsylvania 81. @
Elghty-second New York-Gettysburg. g.. 8
Fifteenth OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES 81 @
Sixty-ninth New York-Antietam 80. 61.S
Fifty first Illinois-Chickamaug 81 q
Nineteenth fndiana-Manassas 1900. 81 2
York-salem Church ............... 600
Fifth New York-Manassas ...... CO. g
Ninety-third New York-Wilderness. 60