Page:Harris Dickson--The unpopular history of the United States.djvu/124

The Unpopular History of the United States morasses — of brave men fighting with the fevers and dying like flies. A single regiment lost 217 men from disease. Think of the terrific death rate. Our little army, whose maximum strength was 4,191, suffered a death rate that fell only 411 men short of the total number killed in the War of 1812 — in which we employed more than half a million men. All of which could have been avoided by effective action at the start.

During two years of this period, 1836-1838, we were also engaged in the Creek War, and the Cherokee War.

The total troops employed, volunteers, militia and regulars from 1835 to 1842 — which included the Creek War and the Cherokee War, amounted to 60,691 — all of these against a mere handful of Indians. What do you think now of the 10 to 1 proposition? [106]