William F. Fox, Lt. Col. U. S. V., Regimental Losses in the American Civil War, 1861-1865: A Treatise on the extent and nature of the mortuary losses in the Union regiments, with full and exhaustive statistics compiled from the official records on file in the state military bureaus and at Washington

First Indian Guards:--“Captain Ta-ma-tus-ta-nuk-ka; cashiered December 3, 1864.”

First Indian Guards:--“Captain Ak-ti-yah-gi-ya-ho-la; deserted December 27, 1862.”

(It is hoped that in the heat of action, these officers did not stand upon their dignity and insist upon being addressed by their full names.)

Second Indian Guards:--“Captain Spring Frog; mustered out May 31, 1865.”

Second Indian Guards:---“Captain Eli Tadpole; died of disease April 15, 1863.”

Second Indian Guards:--“Lieutenant Andrew Rabbit; resigned July 12, 1863.”

Second Indian Guards:--“Captain Jim Ned; missing since August 31, 1862.”

Second Indian Guards:--“Captain Dirt throw Tiger; resigned August 1, 1863.”

Third Indian Guards:--“Captain Daniel Grasshopper; died October 3, 1862, of wounds received in action.”

Third Indian Guards:--“Lieutenant Jumper Duck; died of disease, October 20, 1863.”

Third Indian Guards:--“Lieutenant Redbird Sixkiller; mustered out May 31, 1865.”

The muster-rolls are provided with a column in which is entered the age of each recruit. From the figures in this column it appears that the mean age of all the soldiers was 25 years. When classed by ages, the largest class is that of 18 years, from which the classes decrease regularly to that of 45 years, beyond which age no enlistment was received. Of 1,012,273 recorded ages taken from the rolls, there were 133,475 at 18 years; 90,215 at 19 years, and so on. The number at 25 years of age was 46,626; and, at 44 years, 16,070.¹

The muster-rolls also state the nativities of the men; from which it appears that, in round numbers, out of 2,000,000 men, three-fourths were native Americans. Of the 500,000 soldiers of foreign birth, Germany furnished 175,000; Ireland, 150,000; England, 50,000; British America, 50,000; other countries, 75,000.

The average height of the American soldiers, as shown by the records of the recruiting officers, was 5 feet 8 1/4 inches. The men from Maine, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri and Kentucky, were slightly above this figure. The West Virginians averaged 5 feet 9 inches in height. The general average would have been greater had it not included the measurements of recruits from 17 to 20 years of age, who evidently had not attained their full stature when their measurement was recorded. Out of about 1,00,000 recorded heights of soldiers there were 3,613 who were over 6 feet 3 inches, and among them were some who were over 7 feet.² By selecting from the whole Army, there could have been formed regiments and brigades of tall men which would have surpassed the famous giant-guards of Frederick the Great.

But tall men proved to be poor material for a long, toilsome campaign. When, after a hard, forced march, the captain looked over his company at nightfall to see how many men he had with him, the “ponies” who trudged along at the tail of the company were generally all there; it was the head end of the company that was thinned out.

The records of the weights of the soldiers are incomplete; but, such as they are, they indicate that the average weight was 143 1/2 pounds.

The descriptive lists show also the color of hair, from which it appears that 13 per cent. of the soldiers had black hair; 25 per cent. had dark hair; 30 per cent., brown hair; 24 per cent., light; 4 per cent., sandy; 3 per cent., red; and 1 per cent., gray hair.