the Pole Ferryman.

Bragg, out of a total of fifty-nine thousand two hundred and
forty-two, lost seventeen thousand eight hundred. Rosecran's total was
sixty thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven (exclusive of the losses
on the 18th and 19th). His loss on the 20th was sixteen thousand
five hundred and fifty. The greater loss of the Confederates can be
accounted for when it is remembered that they were the assaulting
party--the enemy's superior position, formidable entrenchments, and
greater amount of artillery.

The Battle of Chickamauga was one of the most sanguinary of the war,
when the number of troops engaged and the time in actual combat are
taken into consideration. In the matter of losses it stands as the
fifth greatest battle of the war. History gives no authentic record of
greater casualties in battle in the different organizations, many
of the regiments losing from fifty to fifty-seven per cent, of their
numbers, while some reached as high as sixty-eight per cent. When it's
remembered that usually one is killed out right to every five that
are wounded, some idea of the dreadful mortality on the field can be
formed.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XXIII

Notes of the Battle--Pathetic Scenes--Sketches of Officers.

The Seventh Regiment was particularly unfortunate in the loss of her
brilliant officers. Colonel Bland and Lieutenant Colonel Hood
both being killed, that regiment was left without a field officer.
Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Gist, of the Fifteenth, being permanently
disabled, and Major William Gist being soon afterwards killed, the
Fifteenth was almost in the same condition of the Seventh. So also was
the Third Battalion. Captain Robert Jennings, commanding the battalion
as senior Captain, lost his arm here, and was permanently retired,
leaving Captain Whitner in command. Major Dan Miller had received
a disabling wound in some of the former battles and never returned.
Colonel Rice returning soon after this battle, he likewise received a
wound from which he never sufficiently recovered for active service,
so the Third Battalion was thereafter commanded by a Captain, Captain
Whitner commanding until his death one year later. The Eighth Regiment
met an irreparable loss in the death of Lieutenant Colonel Hoole. No
officer in the brigade had a more soldierly bearing, high attainments,
and knightly qualities than Colonel Hoole, and not only the regiment,
but the whole brigade