Three Weeks in November: A Military History of the Swiss Civil War of 1847 by Ralph Weaver

Author:Ralph Weaver
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Modern / 19th Century
ISBN: 9781909384835
Publisher: Helion and Company
Published: 2012-06-17T16:00:00+00:00

Rust’s Confederate battery at Gisikon. (Author’s collection)

Casualties recorded for the Confederate Fourth Division for the battle were 14 killed and 84 wounded. As the division fielded over 9,000 men, with a further 7,000 following in reserve, this was very light. Figures for the Sonderbund army are difficult to find, but their losses for the whole campaign were 26 dead and 140 wounded. These are the figures gathered and published by Dufour. The Luzern returns, however, name 40 men killed and 43 wounded for the whole war for their canton alone. 27 were either killed at Gisikon, or died of wounds either in hospital or before they could be treated. A further 27 men were listed as wounded. Among the casualties was the Sonderbund commander, General Salis-Soglio, who was struck in the head by a splinter from a cannon ball while observing the fight from Mazzola’s battery. He continued to encourage his men, but soon had to retire to Luzern where the rest of the Luzern government fled to safety on a steamer across the lake. The Battle of Gisikon was the longest and the bloodiest of the war. It was the last pitched battle in the history of the Swiss army. It was also the first battle in military history in which dedicated wagons were employed to treat the wounded on the battlefield. These horse-drawn ambulances were operated by medical volunteers and nurses from Zürich.

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