Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1907-09-27
The Cost of War.

Inere has been general impression,
erroneous, to be sure that Uncle Sans
battle month is April and that he has
always begun his scraps with his neigh
Dor during the month of showers. This
is not a fact, although the Revolution
started April 10, 1875, the Black Hawk
| War April 81, 1881, and the rebellion
| April 13, 1861, although really the first
blood shed was in the streets Of Balti-
more, when the 9th Massachusetts en-
countered the mob April 10, while Ell
route from the Hub to the capital.
Some comparison of the number of men
and the cost Of these various struggles
serve to show the growth Of the coun-
| try.
The revolution cost in round num-
bers, according to the best estimate OBJ
| tainable, $135, 1913, 7O3, and in this strug-
gle, which lasted within eight days of
| eight years, there were employed, dur
! ing the whole time, 294, 791 men, divid-
ed as follows: Regulars, 130,711;
militia and volunteers, 164OS0. No
accurate figures, as to the number Of
| men lost, can be obtained. The first
battle was at Lexington and Concord,
| and the cessation of hostilities came
| April II, 1888.
The next time that your Uncle
| Samuel had occasion to call upon his
| boys to show the stuff they were made
| of, came in 1912, war being declared
| by the president June 10 Of that year.
| While there had been no battle fought
| previous to the declaration of hostil-
| tiles, yet Great Britain had angered
| the young nation by insisting on its
claimed right to impress into the Brit
ish navy the former subjects Of Great
Britain, wherever found. This war
closed on February 1, 1915. There
were engaged in the strife a total force
| Of 1922 men, of whom only about
| $4,000 were regular soldiers and sea-
men, the rest being volunteers This
war of nearly three years cost in round
numbers $1O7, $4,000.
The next could hardly be called
war, although it is designated in his
| tory as the Black Hawk War. There
is no data preserved by which an &C.
curate estimate could be given either
as to the cost or the number of men
engaged. The war lasted little over
year, beginning in April, 1881, and
ending September 80, 1882. The Semi
mole war is hardly worth the name of
more than a series of scrimmages.
1t was fifteen years after the out
break with the Black Hawk Indians
| that the American eagle again became
war-like and plumed itself for battle
President Polk notified Congress, in
May, 1916, that less than a month be-
! fore a small detachment of United
States troops had been captured by the
Mexicans Congress at once declared
war, and authorized the president to
raise an army of $4,000 men and to
spend $1O,0OO,O0O. From the best rec
ords obtainable in the War Depart
ment, it is shown that the United
| States put into the field an army of
3O,954 regulars and 1915 volunteers.
| This war, which ended in 1S4S, cost
about $1O0,OOOOOO.
The great struggle, which came in
| 1S61-65, was the most expensive the
country ever saw, both from it's cost
| in priceless human life and in the
money spent. Reckoned as a whole,
the country spent for this war no less
| than $7,4OOOO0,O0O, of which the
North expended So, 100000, and the
devoted people of the South the bal
ance in upholding a hopeless cause.
1t is estimated that during the whole
| of the war, Uncle Sans boys numbered
| altogether 2,01S,20O men, but the num-
Der of men which the South put into
the field could only be estimated, at
| best. The losses sustained by the
armies in the war of the rebellion
have been stated as high as 100000
men, but ex-Deputy Commissioner of
Patents Bell states that this is greatly
exaggerated, as the best figures obtain
| able show the total losses did not ex-
coed 1O1,5OO. In citing instances of
exaggeration he said it was claimed
that at Gettysburg something like 49,
900 men were lost, while, as a matter
of fact, in that three days fight the
union forces had killed 2,S34 men and
| the Confederates $500 men. The battle
of the Wilderness, according to this
authority, had much greater fatalities,
| as the union loss then was 5,597 and
the Confederate loss about 1000. Thus
| it can be seen that Uncle Sam alto
| gether has spent for wars $7,742,352,-
| TO6, and has put into the field in vari-
Gus ways total of 2,9S6,16S men,
| armed and equipped for fighting, not
| counting the Indian affairs.