3th, 14th, and 17th as 53
killed, 270 wounded, and 30 captured or missing; in all 353. In
the battle of Irish Bend, according to the nominal lists as complied
in the Official Records, his loss was 6 officers and 43 men killed,
17 officers and 257 men wounded, and 30 men missing; in all 353;
agreeing with the first statement covering the three days, yet
differing slightly in the details. Of this total Dwight's brigade
lost 3 killed and 9 wounded on the 13th, 1 killed and 5 wounded on
the 17th, and only 2 killed and 13 wounded in the battle. Both
statements seem to leave out the 1st Louisiana, which had 2 men
killed and the lieutenant-colonel and 2 men wounded on the 13th.
In Birge's brigade the loss in the battle, according to Grover's
report, was 46 killed, 236 wounded, 49 missing; in all 312. The
official reports show 16 less in the columns of wounded and in the
total: these are probably the 16 wounded officers accounted for
in the nominal lists. Of the regiments engaged the heaviest loss
fell upon the 159th New York, in which the nominal lists show 4
officers and 15 men killed, 5 officers and 73 men wounded, and 20
men captured or missing; in all 117.(1) But this fine regiment
suffered even more severely than these figures indicate, for besides
having to mourn the death of the gallant and promising Draper,
Molineux received a grievous wound that for many weeks deprived
the regiment of one of the best colonels in the service, while of
the wounded officers two were mortally hurt and died soon afterward.
Birge's loss was nearly one man in four or five, for his strength
did not exceed 1,500, and it is probable that his fighting line
numbered not more than 1,200.

The Confederate loss is not reported. They left on the field, to
be cared for by their adversary, 21 of their dead and 35 of their
wounded. Among these were Gray, Vincent, and Reily.

Taylor gives the number of his infantry engaged in the charge on
Birge's right as less than 1,000. The disparity of the opposing
forces in that affair was, therefore, not important, and Birge's
somewhat greater numbers may fairly be considered as off-set by
the advantages of Taylor's position and the familiarity with the
country common to nearly all the Confederate soldiers there engaged,
while to their antagonists it was an unknown land. Grover's whole
force was about 5,000, of all arms, but of these, though all are
to be taken into account, nearly a third were in res