ar Brigade; both were about 200 men stronger than
that brigade, and suffered losses before and after the 31st December,
while the loss of the Regulars was all on that day; the brigades were
Carlin's, of the right wing, loss 627--but lost on the 30th 175 men, and a
few more after the 31st; Grose's, of the left wing, 585--but lost before
the 31st 10 men, and on the 2d of January, the brigade report states, met
with a severe loss, not as large as on the 31st, however.

These figures tell the tale, and it is doubtful if in any other engagement
of the war any organization under similar circumstances suffered as large
a loss.

The total number of men received by the general Government in its armies
during the war, for various periods, was 2,859,132; these, reduced to a
three years' standard, would make 2,320,272 men.

The average effective number of each 1,000 men in service has been
computed at 693 men; this, applied to the number of men of the three
years' standard, would, in round numbers, give an effective force of
1,608,000 men.

The total losses of the war, as near as it can be done with incomplete
returns, has been computed to be: Killed in action, 44,238, or about 1.9%
of the effective force; wounded in action, 280,000, or about 12% of the
effective force; while the Regular Brigade lost on the 31st of December
alone: Killed in action, 94, or 6% of its effective strength; wounded in
action, 489, or 31% of its effective strength. Of course, the above
computations can be applied only in a general way, inasmuch as after 1861
the actual number of men in the United States service, on an average, was,
in round numbers, only about 850,000 per year.

In his report of the battle, General Geo. H. Thomas says: "In the
execution of this last movement, the Regular Brigade came under a most
murderous fire * * * but with the cooperation of Scribner's and Beatty's
Brigades and Guenther's and Loomis' Batteries, gallantly held its ground
against overwhelming odds."

General Rousseau, in his report, speaks of the brigade as follows: "On
that body of brave men the shock of battle fell heaviest, and its loss was
most severe. Over one-third of the command fell, killed or wounded. But it
stood up to the work and bravely breasted the storm, and, though Major
King, commanding the 15th, and Major Slemmer (old Pickens), of the 16th,
fell severely wounded, and Major Carpenter, commanding the 19th, fell dead
in the last charge, together with