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 many officers and men, the brigade did not falter for a moment. These three battalions were a part of my old 4th Brigade at the battle of Shiloh. The 18th Infantry, Majors Townsend and Caldwell commanding, were new troops to me, but I am proud now to say we know each other. * * * The brigade was admirably and gallantly handled by Lieut.-Col. Shepherd. * * * Of the batteries of Guenther and * * * I cannot say too much. * * * Without them we could not have held our position in the centre.”
Surgeon Eben Swift, Medical Director, Department of the Cumberland, reports: “Much of the heaviest loss sustained to-day fell upon our Regular Battalions, brigaded under command of Lieutenant-Colonel O. L. Shepherd, in holding the cedar brake on the right of the centre against the columns of the enemy sweeping down upon them after having forced back our entire right wing.”
W. D. Bickham, who was on the field himself, in his book, “Rosecrans’ Campaign with the Army of the Cumberland,” published in March, 1863, makes the following record: “The Regular Brigade, Lieut.-Col. Shepherd at the head of the column, moved steadily into the thickets, and formed with Colonel John Beatty’s Brigade on the left, and Scribner’s in close support. Directly a dropping fire, like the big drops which precede a storm, indicated the proximity of the enemy. * * * But the enemy pushed hard. The gallant regulars resisted with the staunchness of their professional esprit, and refused to yield an inch. * * * The file firing of the regulars at this point was fearfully destructive.”
“Pont Mercy,” a correspondent of the New York Tribune, wrote from the battle-field: “There is a record, however, which shall be more amply made, when the Biography of the gallant Regular Brigade is ready for history. * * * Almost one-half the casualties were regulars, while they numbered less than one-fourth of the entire division. The missing indicates discipline and skill of officers with unmistakable emphasis. It was so in the sanguinary battle of Gaines’ Mills on the Peninsula.”
The Regular Brigade of the West had indeed sent greeting to their comrades in the East.
As already stated, the dead of the brigade were buried in front of the position held by it nearly throughout the battle; the intention was to erect a monument over their remains, and officers and men subscribing liberally, a large sum was collected—about $4,000. The dead heroes rest now at the same point in the National Cemetery, established by the General Government; and on the 12th of May, 1883, a monument made by the sculptor, Launt Thompson, was erected over their resting-place.
The foregoing is not a fancy painted history of the brigade in this battle; it is not embellished with rhetorical allusions to fire and smoke, shot and shell, grape and canister, the roar of the cannon, the rattling of the musketry, the groans of the dying and wounded; it is a simple and plain statement of facts in unembellished terms; although the groans of the wounded and dying, the rattling of the musketry, the roar of the cannon, grape and canister, shot and shell, and fire and smoke were constant accompaniments of the shifting scenes of this bloody and destructive drama of the history of our country.