Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 16.djvu/34

 28 Southern Historical Society Papers.

" than many whose names are proudly emblazoned on the page of history." Justice has never been done him. But he has not wanted those who appreciated him. He was thus eulogized in a paper during the war : *

"Among these private soldiers are to be found men of culturei men of gentle training, men of intellect, men of social position, men of character at home, men endeared to a domestic circle of refine- ment and elegance, men of wealth, men who gave tone and character to the society in which they moved, and men who for conscience sake have made a sacrifice of property, home, comfort, and are ready to add crimson life to the cause.

" Without rank, without title, without anticipated distinction, ani- mated only by the highest and noblest^entiments which can influence our common nature, the private labors, toils and marches and fights, endures hunger, thirst and fatigue; through watchings and weariness, sleepless nights and cheerless days, he holds up before him the one glorious prize, ' Freedom of my country ; Independence of my home.'"

OUR LOSSES IN BATTLE.

In a recent article published in the Century magazine entitled, " The Chances of being Hit in Battle, ' ' are two tables, one of the losses in Federal regiments during the war, in which the proportion of killed and wounded in a single engagement were over fifty per cent, of those present, and the other a like list of losses in the Con- federate regiments. It is singular that in all there were twenty-five Federal regiments .that lost in a single battle fifty per cent, and over, and almost exactly the same number in our service, we having one more, that is twenty-six regiments which lost more than fifty per cent, in a single battle. The author says that these are instances of excessive loss, and that these lists represent the maximum loss and may be of interest to such historians as persist in telling of regiments that were all cut to pieces or commands which were annihilated. This table is of great interest to us of this State, for it shows that of the twenty-six regiments that sustained the heaviest losses on our side, six were Southf ^ ^olina regiments, four were Georgia, four Tennessee, three Tex 38, three Alabama, three North Carolina, two Virginia and one Mississippi regiment. And it is of still greater interest to us here to-day, for, of these six South Carolina regiments,


 * Jackson, Mississippi, Crisis, Marginalia, p. 174.