Alexander : a history of the origin and growth of the art of war from ...

246 PERCENTAGES OF KILLED.to decline into stoicism when long-range weapons supplanthand-to-hand combat. But it is a question whether the latterin the soldier is not the greater virtue. Since the dayswhen the lines of battle had to close in order to decide theday, troops have been forced to stand, and have stood, fargreater decimation. Let us go no farther back than a fewbrilliant examples in our own day and generation.To take small bodies —:At Balaclava, the Light Brigade, out of 673 meu, lost 113 killed, or16.8 per cent.At Mars la Tour, the16th Infantry (Westphalian), out of 3,000 men,lost 509 killed,or 16.9 per cent.At Metz, the Garde Schiitzen, out of 1,000 men, lost 162 killed, or16.2 per cent.These are the heaviest percentages of killed shown bythese two nations within recollection.During our Civil War, each ofsixty-six Union regiments,in some one battle, lost a higher percentage in killed thanthis. Of these, one lost 28 per cent, in killed ; one, 26 percent. ; one, 24 per cent. ; four, 23 per cent. ; five, 22 percent. ; five, 21 per cent. ; seven, 20 per cent.Or, to take somewhat larger bodies —:At Gettysburg, the First Corps, out of 9,000 men, lost 593 killed, or6.6 per cent. ; the Second Corps, out of 10,500 men, lost 796 killed, or7.6 per cent. ; the Third Corps, out of 11,000 men, lost 578 killed, or 5.3per cent.At Antietam, the Second Corps, out of15,000 men, lost 883 killed, or5.9 per cent.At Chickamauga, the Fourteenth Corps, out of 20,000 men, lost 664killed, or 3.3 per cent. ; McCook's Division, out of 12,500 men, lost 423killed, or 3.4 per cent.At Stone River, the Twenty-first Corps, out of 13,000 men, lost 650killed, or 5 per cent.At Gettysburg, Gibbon's Brigade, out of 3,773 men, lost 344 killed, or