Chapter VII: Part 6: Tables and Statistics

COMPOSITION OF ORIGINAL COMPANY.

_Nationality_: 82 men were of German blood, 4 born in North America; 4 of American (U.S.); 4 of Scandinavian; 2 of French; 1 of Magyar; and 1 of British.

_Religions_: Proportion of Lutheran and Methodist, 25 per cent.; Roman Catholic, 19 per cent.; Rationalistic, 17 per cent.; and 39 per cent. were unclassified.

_Occupations_: Proportion of farmers, 30 per cent.; mechanics, 54 per cent.; professional men, 8 per cent.; and miscellaneous and unknown, 8 per cent.

STATISTICS OF DISEASE.

Previous to the summer of 1864 the health of the regiment had always been very good. At the time of the departure for the South the proportion of sick in the whole company was under 5 per cent., the cases being mostly of a trivial nature. The following table, compiled from the monthly returns, will show how rapidly the ratio increased during the sojourn at Helena:

Whole Number Aggregate Percentage
Day. of Sick. of Company. of Sick.
-------------------------------------------------------
June 30 10 84 12
July 31 24 82 30
August 31 41 78 52
September 30 46 76 60
October 31 30 81 37

The "daily" and "extra" duty men would swell the last column somewhat if their health had been generally reported, but it is not customary to enter their names in the "sick" book. Every man of the company was sick at one time or another while in the South.

The poor economy of sending the regiment to Helena immediately from a northern climate at the commencement of the summer, and keeping it there so long, is plainly seen in the following calculation (and other companies showed a similar state of things to Company E): If we take the sum of the "aggregates" of the morning reports during each month the product is the maximum number of days' service the government can expect for that period, but which, however, it really never gets. By similarly adding together the columns of "sick" we have a figure representing loss of service, and which should be within reasonable limits. While in Minnesota this loss never amounted to 20 per cent. of the whole service due, and generally fluctuated between 8 and 17. In a space of time equal to and immediately preceding the time spent at Helena,--nineteen weeks,--it was as low as 3 per cent.; while there it was 43; and for the same length of time immediately after leaving Helena, it was 23. In March, 1865, it was 13; in April, 13; in May, 18; and in June, 27. As no morning reports were made after the middle of July, the figures for the remainder of the term of service cannot be obtained, but undoubtedly they would result in at least 30 per cent.

The number of deaths occurring while in Helena, and traceable to disease contracted while at that point and Montgomery, is 13, equal to 15 per cent., or nearly one-sixth of the whole company.

NUMERICAL SUMMARIES.

MEMBERS.

Resigned, 1; transferred, 13; discharged previous to expiration of service, 16; died, 14; deserted, 2; missing, 1; mustered out at expiration of service in June and July, 1865, 5; mustered out in corpore August 19th, 1865, 59; in military prison and unknown, 2. Total number of members, 113.

OCCUPATION OF TIME.

En route, on campaigns and expeditions, 177 days. En route, changing stations, 68 days. Stationary, at posts and barracks, 439 days. Stationary in camp, 412 days. Total, or entire term of service, 3 years.

DISTANCES TRAVELED, APPROXIMATELY.

On foot, 2,800 miles; in wagons, 100 miles; by steamboat, 4,235 miles; by railroad, 865 miles. Total, 8,000 miles.

LIMITS AND EXTENT OF COUNTRY TRAVERSED.

_Latitude_: From 47 deg. 32', at Lake Jessie, D. T., approximate position, to 27 deg., at the mouth of the Mississippi; being 20 deg. 32' difference, equal to 1,416 statute miles, measured on a meridian line.

_Longitude_: From 86 deg. 25', at Montgomery, Ala., to 100 deg. 35', at the mouth of Apple River, D. T., approximate position; being 14 deg. 10' difference, equal to 757 statute miles on the line of middle latitude.

_Greatest included right line_: From Lake Jessie, D. T., approximate position, to the mouth of the Mississippi; course S. 21 deg. E., distance 1,372 miles.

An air line drawn from Montgomery, Alabama, the last station, to St. Paul, Minnesota, would be 945 miles in length, course N.N.W. The water route to the latter place, via Mississippi Sound and New Orleans, is about 2,350 miles; while that actually traveled, via Vicksburg, is about 1,585 miles.