Sir, – The article on the Gettysburg address incorrectly states "Lincoln was dedicating a cemetery to 51,000 soldiers killed at a battle four months earlier" (World News, November 20th). The total casualties at the battle of Gettysburg were 51,000 killed, wounded or missing, of which approximately 8,000 were killed.
A total of 58,220 American soldiers died in the Vietnam war.
It is not known how many Irishmen were casualties at the battle of Gettysburg but the Irish brigade under Col Patrick Kelly reported 202 casualties out of 530 who started the battle, of which 30 were killed. Many hundreds more would have been casualties in other regiments and on the Confederate side.
The total number of Irish killed in the American civil war is not known – some estimates put it as high as 30,000. – Yours, etc,
BEN WRAFTER.
Dooneen,
Crecora,
Co Limerick.