ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



39 



cent, partly so. In eleven per cent, there were 

 none at the time of the inspection. In only 

 three per cent, of the regiments were the over- 

 coats of poor quality. Seventy-five per cent, 

 of the regiments were provided with good cloth 

 body coats ; the remainder with flannel sack 

 coats or cloth jackets. 



Of two hundred regiments, all were provided 

 with pantaloons one hundred and seventy-five 

 sufficiently, eight indifferently, seventeen very 

 poorly. 



Men have been frequently seen during the 

 summer on duty and on parade in their draw- 

 ers alone. 



In seventy-five per cent, of the regiments, 

 one good blanket had been issued to each sol- 

 dier. In twenty per cent, two had been pro- 

 vided ; these being, however, in most cases, of 

 inferior quality. In five per cent, the men had 

 never all received each a blanket. 



In the army of the Potomac the average 

 constant number of sick, per one thousand men, 

 has been sixty-three; in the department of 

 Western Virginia, one hundred and sixty-two ; 

 in the Valley of the Mississippi, one hundred 

 and sixteen. 



The average constant number of sick during 

 the months of August, September, and October, 

 in the regiments east and west, so far as vis- 

 ited, lias been seventy-seven per thousand. In 

 this number all relieved from duty, from any 

 sort of physical indisposition, however slight, 

 are included. 



The average number of men constantly sick 

 in the regiments, from several of the States 

 respectively, is nearly as follows : 



New Tork, (per thousand strong) 55 



Pennsylvania, 



Massachusetts, 



Connecticut, 



Vermont, 



Maine, 



New Jersey 



Wisconsin, 



Indiana, 



Michigan, 



Illinois, 



Ohio, 



The forces from Ohio and some other States 

 have been, to a considerable extent, subject to 

 unusual privations and exposure, during the 

 campaign among the mountains of Western 

 Virginia. A similar remark applies to those 

 of Illinois, in Missouri. There is reason to 

 think that the most sickness has occurred 

 where regiments, raised in far northern and 

 highland districts, have been removed to low- 

 land, fluvial, and seaboard districts ; those, for 

 instance, from Maine and Vermont, the ridge 

 counties of New York, and from Minnesota, 

 being more subject to distinct disease, as well 

 as to demoralization, or ill-defined nostalgia, 

 than others in^the army of the Potomac, the 

 healthiest regiments, physically and morally, 

 have been those from the seaboards, as of New 

 Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con- 

 necticut, and New Jersey ; those from Rhode 



57 

 . 52 

 . 49 

 . 88 

 .124 

 . 36 

 . 78 

 . 42 

 . 76 

 .156 

 .192 



Island being probably the most fortunate in 

 this respect, which fact, however, is chiefly due 

 to their superior discipline early in the cam- 

 paign. 



It is difficult to compare the rate of sickness 

 of foreign armies with that of the volunteers, 

 because it is uncertain what degree of sickness 

 in them places a man upon the sick list. Our 

 volunteer surgeons are, undoubtedly, very ac- 

 commodating in this respect, probably more so 

 than the surgeons of the regular army or of 

 foreign armies. It has happened in more than 

 one instance that upon an order to advance 

 against the enemy being given, every man of 

 a regiment then on the sick list immediately 

 reported himself, well, was discharged, and 

 shouldered his musket in the line of battle. It 

 is probable that at least one-half those returned 

 as sick by the surgeons of volunteers would do 

 the same, under similar circumstances ; that 

 proportion being excused from duty on account 

 of a cold in the head, severe fatigue, or a slight 

 indigestion. 



In the- whole British army, in time of peace, 

 6.5 per cent, of the force otherwise available, 

 is reported constantly " in hospital." Of the 

 British army in the Peninsula under the Duke 

 of Wellington, 1808-1814, twenty-one per cent, 

 (or 9,300 of an average force of 44,500 men) 

 was constantly " sick in hospital."' The num- 

 ber of sick ranged from nine to thirty-three 

 per cent, of the whole force at different pe- 

 riods. 



These rates were exceeded in the British 

 army of the Crimea. To maintain 100 effec- 

 tive soldiers in the field, it there became 

 necessary to provide for 26.6 sick men. The 

 annual rate of mortality was three per cent, by 

 wounds, and twenty per cent, by disease. 



The annual rate of mortality in the British 

 army, at home and in time of peace, was from 

 one and a tentb to two per cent, in ten years 

 preceding 1847. 



The average mortality of the army of the 

 Potomac has been, during the summer, at the 

 rate of three and a half per cent., (allowance 

 being made for those who die after their dis- 

 charge, from causes connected with army life.) 

 Imperfect data received from the West, indi- 

 cate a considerably larger rate for the whole 

 army ; probably it will not be far from five 

 per cent, if sweeping epidemics should be es- 

 caped. 



The following is a statistical classification of 

 the diseases and casualties of forty-seven regi- 

 ments of volunteers and two of regulars, dnring 

 periods averaging forty days for each regiment, 

 between July 1st and October 1st, 1861. 



The classification adopted is that used in the 

 British army, and for civil registration in Eng- 

 land, Australia, and several of the States of the 

 Union. 



The data are taken from the consolidated re- 

 turns of the regimental surgeons to the medical 

 directors of the military departments of the 

 Potomac and of the West : 



