The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-08-17
WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK
"Wild Cat" STATISTICS of tie civil war.

- ~" &sNAsvS " 10eE journal. &34 .S1
In the Evening Tribune.of the 16th
under the heading, '0Aeeseof the Sol
diers," which are very misl eading be-
cause very wide of the facts in the
premises. Some correction. therefore,
should be made givingssth 9 III eaT status
Of things. The undersigned lives in
washington, D. Grand assuming that
ne might beequestioned along these
lines during the encampment, he took
tne precaution to apply to the military
sss rs 1atcyy4 Of the;swar department: TOR
probable present number Of survivors
OF Inc civil war, and also as to whether
tnere mad been any tabulation of the
ages OF the whole body of union SOL
Glers from the Youngest to the highest.
Under date Of July Is the military Sec
rotary, General Ainsworth, replies to
tnese inquiries by forwarding to me his
printed Memorandum on these sub
lects 1ssuerd from the war department
on May Is, 1905. After referring to
tne tribune figures will quote those Of
General Ainsworth on the same head.
/. Let II be noted, sin the first place, that
| the Office Of adjutant general in Wash
| lhRton no longer exists, that office sew
| erai years ago having been included in
| that OF the military secretary.
| The Tribune figures form two series
1 OF ages: those from ten to twenty-one
! years, and those higher; then, by a pro-
1 cess OF simple addition, which is mani
festly wrong, the total number of men
ENLISTED is stated to be 5,075,483. Turn.
! ing now to the latest s MEMORANDUM u
from the war department., we find in the
summary the following: Estimated to.
tai number of individuals in service
2,113,365 (deserters to the number of
1l7,247 being excluded). II deserters
/ are included, the whole number of sol
d1ers serving would be 1880, which
ital. III
i Again, as to the number Of soldiers
at the various specified ages. General
Alnsworth makes this very positive
different ages, at the date Of entry into
service, or at any given date during
the war, have never been ascertained
nor can the missing data be supplied
Dwithout q laborious search of the many
thousands OF original rolls and Other
asrecords filed in the war and navy de-
years for it's completion"
TT is proper to say here, however
that the United States sanitary commits
sion, during the war, made such tabu
iatlon " ages of the soldiers, covering
about 45 per cent Of the total number
4 Of enlistments- something over a mil
lion of men; and that these tables wer,
made the. basis Of some estimates b.
| General Ainsworth on the subject o:
ages Of the soldiers. The details O:
these latter estimates as to age, how
eyer, have never been given to the pub
! We may note here that General Aims
worth gives the probable number O.
SURVIVORS Of the civil war on June 80
1906, as 7S2,722. ".
1t is very much to be regretted tina
the priceless tables Of: the sanitar,
commission have never been extende,
to include the total number of ind
Yiduals in service It is by all odd
/ the most important piece of Statistical
!, research now pressing upon the govern
ment. for accomplishment. It is, how
ever, currently reported that the new
commander-in-c chief 81 the Grand Arm
! has some very clear views on the sub
z iect Of statistics; and doubt not tina
something in this line viii soon be be
gun worthy Of theS armies of the unto
and of the venerable, yet still ,aler
and formidable, army Of. heroic surviv
ors- ESsaszs @..f Thomas 81. Brown.
:. 9o6 n Street Nv. WASHINGTON