Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1913-05-23


combat. 1t was at the battle Of Fred
ericksburg where it went to the fir
ing line with 800 strong and came out
with but 100, having lost 10 men.
In the two days fighting on the
banks of the Tennessee at Shiloh the
Fighting 54th" Indiana lost 1873 men
of its 41S with which it had gone in
to battle.
Some Startling Figures to Remember
A Southern investigator finds that
over so Confederate regiments lost
over 80 to the 100 in different battles
The 1st Tex. at Antietam, 1928 per
cent; the 21st Ga. at Manassas, rs;
the 18th N. C.. at Gettysburg, II; the
9Th Miss. at Shiloh, 20; the Sth Tenn
at Stone River, s.; the 18th S. C. at
Manassas, Sc; the LIST Ala. Battalion
at Chicamauga, "a; the 18th Va. at
Antietam, IS; the 9Th Ala. at Seven
Pines, led by that gallant Command
erin- Chief, Gen. Gordon, lost two
thirds of its men in action.
The total loss in killed or died of
wounds of the Germans in the Fran
coGerman War was 81 per cent;
that of the Austrians in the War of
1866, 2.6 per cent; that Of the allies
in the Crimea, 3.2 per cent. But in
our war the Federals lost AZ and the
Confederates over per cent, the
largest proportion of any modern
army that fell around its standards.
| Never was such prolonged and des-
perate fighting done by the same men
The Light Brigade in the famous
charge of Balaklava, which was
sounded over the world, carried 673
officers and men and lost, 113 killed
and 1874 wounded; total, 247, or 96.7
per cent. This pales before many ex-
ploits Of both Union and Confederate
troops, of which We have scarcely
heard. l have a list of 70 Federal
regiments which lost over 80 per cent
in particular battles. The heaviest
loss during the whole rancoIGerman
War was that of the 3rd Westphahan
regiment at Mars-la-Tour, which lost
40 per cent.
Another investigator finds that at
Waterloo, one of the most desperate
and bloody fields recorded in Euro
pean history, Wellington's casualties
did not reach II per cent, his losses
being 2,432 killed and 1928 wounded,
in more than 100000 men. AT Shiloh,
the first great battle of the West, in
the American civil war, he casualitie
on one side were $40 out of $4,000,
and on the other the number of kille
and wounded reached 1916, amount
ing to 80 per cent.
Comparisons With Other Wars.
Napoleon at Wagram lost five per
cent, and yet the army gave up the
field and reiterated. At Racour Mar
shall Sake lost two and oneJhalf per
cent; at Zurich MasSena, only eight
per cent; at Lagriz Frederick, six
and a half per cent; at Malplaquet
Marlborough, but 10 per cent, and at
Families, six per cent. Henry of Ma
varre's troops were reported "cut to
pieces at Contras, and yet his less
was less than 10 per cent. At Lodi
Napoleon lost one and fourth per
cent. At Valmy Frederick Williams
loss was three per cent. Marengo
and Austerlitz, with all their carnage,
cost Napoleon an average less
of less than IA IL per cent. The
average loss of both armies at Ma
genta and Solferino was less than 8
per cent. At Werth Spelcheron,
Mars-la,Tour, Gravelotte and Sedan,
in 1870, the combined loss was six pc
cent, while on the historic battlefield
of Hohenlinden, Gen. Moreau lost but
four per cent and the Archduke John
lost but seven per cent in killed and
wounded.
Compare these with the battles of
the American civil war. At Perry
vile, MurfreesborO, Chicamauga, At
lanta, Gettysburg, Missionary Ridge,
the Wilderness and Spotsylvania the
loss frequently reached and some
times exceeded 40 per cent, and the
average killed and wounded on one
side or the other was over 30 per
cent.
From the discovery of America
(1492) to 1861, the records of all the
wars with other Nations show but 10
American Generals killed in battle.
In the four years of the American
civil war, from 1861 to 1865, more
than 100 general officers fell while
leading their triumphant columns.
From 1892 to 1861 the killed and
wounded upon American soil in all
the combats and skirmishes combined
as shown by reports, hardly exceeded
the casualties of a single battle of
the great conflicts of the civil war.
Hood s Brigade is said to have suf-
fered greater losses in proportion to
its numbers than any other organiza-
ton in American history. The bri-
gade went to war with $500 men; it
lost in killed and wounded during it's
four years of service more than 80
per cent of the total enrolment. Va
rious other regiments enter claims
for distinction.
The records of valor might be con-
tinued, but this is sufficient to give
the reader an understanding of what
it means today when he sees an old
warrior in blue or gray pass along
the thorfares, his shoulders bent an
his face battle-scarred. It has been