NEWS OF 150 YEARS AGO
January and February 1863
From The Missouri Democrat, Wednesday, January 28, 1863.
Stature of American Soldiers.
Surgeon General Hammond, in his forthcoming work on “Hygiene,” gives the following curious statistics relative to the superior height of American soldiers over those from other countries:
“The great stature of the American, when compared with that of the English and French soldiers, is made apparent from the following statistics, gathered by the medical department:
“Of one thousand men in the British army, there were but sixty-five men who were six feet and over in height, and the same number of soldiers in the French army but four; while of eighteen hundred recruits for the United States army, two hundred and forty-one were six six [sic]feet and over in height, or somewhat more than 133 per 1,000, out of 8,632 persons who presented themselves for examination in New York City for enlistment, but two were under the prescribed height, (five feed three inches.) One of these was an Englishman and the other an American; 4,500 Americans and 343 Englishmen were examined.