The independent-reporter., 1910-07-21
SURVIVING VETERANS
Of CIVIL WAR
interesting Statistics
From Pension Rolls
About 2,77S, 800 Enlistments During the
War-May Pay Pensions as Late as
1855.

Soldiers and sailors of the Union
army in the Civil war are dying at a
rapid rate. About 80 names a day
are dropped from the pension rolls.
This average is equivalent to about
200 deaths month, or about $4,000
annually among Federal survivors of
the war carried along on the pension
lists. How many survive who are not
on the pension roll is not recorded in
the Pension office or the adjutant
generals office of the war department.
The officials refer to these unrecord-
ed soldiers as the unknown army,
md there is such an army of sur
well as Union. Many of them belong
to Grand Army posts or Confederate
veteran camps, but there are un-
dcubtedly a number who are neither
pensioners nor identified with organi-
cations. Every once in a while a
survivor of the war who had been
lest sight of turns up in some out-of-
the-way corner of the world and ap-
plies for a pension through a con-
gressman or under general statutes.
The old soldiers of both armies are
vanishing rapidly. Just how many
survive will not be known until after
the completion of the 18th census,
and can only be approXimated now
outside of those whose names are
carried on the pension rolls as hav-
ing served in the Union army. There
is no such record of the Confederates,
for they get no general pensions, and
their names and places of residence
are not a matter of official record. A
number of Confederate soldiers can
be located through the rolls of the
veteran camps in the south, but these
records are not nearly so complete
as those of the Grand Army OF the
Republic The law providing for the
taking of the census of 1910 stpulat-
ed that there should be included a
tabulation of the number OF Union
and Confederate soldiers and sailors
living. The census of 1900 contained
no such tabulation.
The most generally accepted est
mate of the total number OF 1ndlVld-
uals" serving in the Union army and
navy during the Civil war is 2,2l3,36o
This estimate was prepared by MAJOR
General Fred Ainsworth, ad]utant
general of the army, fourteen years
ago. and is one toward which pension
officials and others turn for data rel
atiye to the size of the Union army
in the war. But it was only an es-
innate. The records showed that the
total number of enlistments from the
various states and territories during
the war under President Lincoln
various calls aggregated z,6o,oUf
But of this number there were loo'-
963 enlistments Of seamen ana mar
ines, leaving 2,672,341 enlistments
credited to the army alone, exclusive
lv of 1922 men who were serving IN
the regular army. 1t is estimated that
of these 2.672,341 there were 543,395
re-enlistments, which when subtract
ed leaves the estimate of lndlVldual
volunteer soldiers in the war 2,l26'-
GAS. There were enough re-enllst-
ments in the navy to bring the actual
number of individuals in the navy
down to 84,417, making the NUMBER
serving in the war on the Union sloe
2.213.365. This is the only ofnclal
estimate ever made, and how far II
varies from the actual number can
never be determined.
General Ainsworth in his estimate
of fourteen years ago stated that IL
appeared that at the close OF the wal
there we're l,727,353 individuals OF
the Union army surviving, deserters
excluded He estimated that the
number of survivors in 1890 should
he 1,2S5,471 and 1,125,725 in 1896
while he predicted that at the rate al
which the men were passing away
the army would be reduced to about
100000 survivors i'll 1900
The number of survivors of the
Civil war on the pension rolls on
June 80, 1909, was 593,961. AT the
close of the Spanish war, in 1898
there were 726,446 Civil war surviv-
ors on the pension rolls. These fig
ures relate only to soldiers and sail
ors who actually fought in the wal
and do not include widows, children
or orphans. The number of names
Ol A1NlI wal oAiiNhSh iiOh4
the pension rolls on account of death
last year was 32,831; in 1908, 1888
in 1907, 31,201; in 1906, 29,20S; or
total of 1858 dropped from the
rolls on account of death in foul
years, and the fiscal year, which will
close with the end of the present
month, will show about $4,000 more
dropped on account of death. This
is the rate at which the pensioned
old soldier is passing.
Senator McCumber Of the Senate
Pension Committee has just caused
to be prepared an interesting table
relative to the ages of soldiers at the
times of enlistment. This table shows
that of the total number of enlist
ments, aggregating 2,778,309 for the
Union army and navy, the number OF
enlistments at various ages was as
follows:
At 10 years and under, 25
At IL years and under, 90
At IL years and under, 225
At 13 years and under, 800
At IA years and under, ,525