As the Revolutionary War was more of a guerilla than actual war, I will speak more directly of the Mexican War.  It will be noticed the difference in the killed to the wounded was far out of proportion in favor of the latter.  This I attribute to the smallness of the gun’s calibre, and in many instances buck-shot were used in connection with larger balls by the soldiers of the old wars, while the Mexicans used swords and lances, as well as pistols.  During the three days’ battle at Molino del Rey, Chapultepec, and the storming of the City of Mexico, considered the most bloody and sanguinary of that war, the four divisions of Scott’s Army, of two thousand each, lost as follows:  Pillow lost one officer killed and fourteen wounded, twenty-one privates killed and ninety-seven wounded.  Worth lost two officers killed and nine wounded, twenty-three privates killed and ninety-five wounded.  Quitman lost four officers killed and thirty wounded, thirty-seven privates killed and two hundred and thirty-seven wounded.  Smith’s Brigade, with Quitman, lost ten officers wounded and none killed, twenty-four privates killed and one hundred and twenty-six wounded.  Twigg’s Division lost three officers killed and twelve wounded, fifteen privates killed and seventy-seven wounded.  This, with some few missing, making a grand total loss, out of Scott’s Army of nine to ten thousand men, of between six hundred and fifty and seven hundred killed, wounded, and missing—­a number that Kershaw’s Brigade alone frequently lost in three or four hours.

The heaviest casualties in the three days’ battle of Mexico in regiments were in the Palmetto Regiment and the Kentucky Rifles, where the former lost two officers killed and nine wounded, fourteen privates killed and seventy-five wounded; the latter lost six officers wounded and none killed, nine privates killed and sixty-four wounded.  When it is remembered that the Third Regiment in the battle with about three hundred and fifty and four hundred men in line lost six regimental commanders killed and wounded, not less than three times that number of other officers killed and wounded, and more than one hundred and fifty men killed and wounded, some idea can be had of its bloody crisis and deadly struggle, in which our troops were engaged, in comparison to the patriots in Mexico.

But considering the close proximity of the troops engaged at Fredericksburg, the narrow compass in which they were massed, the number of elevated positions suitable for artillery on either side, and the number of troops on the field, the wonder is why the casualties were not even greater than the reports make them.  Burnsides, from the nature of the ground, could not handle more than half his army, as by official returns not more than fifty thousand were in line of battle and in actual combat.  There were only two points at which he could extend his line, and if at one he found a “Scylla,” he was equally sure to find a “Charybdis” at the other.