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 NUMBERS AND LOSSES IN THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA 1861 - 1865

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1890 there appear to be 1,034,073 surviving Union soldiers and sailors, and 432,020 Confederates. Proportionately to 2,300,OOO on the Union muster Rolls. Calculation is based upon the reports of the commanders of large number of regiments. Colonel Fox estimated the Number of the Union army actually carried into action at Gettysburg was 85,674 present for duty, and the number of the Confederate army 71,675. He included all the organizations on the field, and deducted all men who did not remain in the ranks, of the number present for duty on both sides. The comparison of the loss inflicted by an army with the loss it suffered shows a comparison in some degree to the courage and efficiency of an army. Loss inflicted in some battles was to measure the skill of the commanders. The general whose army stands fast under heavy loss without inflicting commensurate loss on its opponents is thereby put to the vindication of his own conduct. SOURCE: T. L. L. BOSTON, December 1, 190O. THIS was read before the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts, February 23,1897. Later research changed many of the figures that were given. This is notably true of the numbers given for the strength of the armies engaged in the different battles. The figures do not need much if any amendment, they must give place to those given as an exact statement of numbers and losses. CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA - TOTAL NUMBER IN THE UNION ARMY. The enlistments in the Union army during the War the Rebellion numbered 2,898,304. This number included about 230,000 militia and 'emergency men," that served for short terms, and some part of whom were not mustered into the United States service. The number of individuals under arms was considerably less than the number of enlistments, because repeated enlistment by individuals. It is probable many of the 200,000 men who served for a short period in 1861 and 1862 enlisted again. TOTAL NUMBER IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. It is most disappointing that the mass of records which have been published by the War Department NWMBERS AND LOSSES IN THE CIVIL WAR contains no summary of the number who were actually under arms on the Confederate side. General Cooper, the adjutant-general of the Confederate army, stated after the war that no such summary existed.' The office of the War Records Office, because of the incomplete and fragmentary character of the data in their possession, have never attempted to fix the number. As far as it has been learned, neither the Confederate States kept a record of the number of men furnished to the Confederate service, and the statistics which can be obtained are far from complete. The total number of men in the Confederate armies has been estimated at between 600,000 to 700,000 by General Marcus J. Wright. Pamphlet entitled United Confederates? veterans, published at New Orleans, 1892. NUMBERS AND LOSSES IN THE CIVIL WAR of Southern valor was so high that exaggerated statements of numbers cannot further exalt it in the estimation of the world. To prove that the estimated ratio of four to one between the two armies is not founded in fact does not diminish that reputation. The result of the war depended much upon the superiority of the North in material resources. Dr. Jones, in arriving at the estimates, takes the following statistics of casualties in the Confederate army, furnished by General Cooper: - Killed in battle, 1861-65 - 53,973 - Wounded, 1861-65 - 194,026 - Captured, 1861-65 - 202,283 and the following from the returns of the Confederate field and general hospitals for 1861-62: - Killed - 19,897 - Deaths in field hospitals from wounds - 1,623 - Deaths in general hospitals from wounds - 2,618 - Deaths in fieId hospitals from disease - 14,597 - Deaths in general hospitals from disease - 16,741 - Total wounded - 72,713 - Prisoners - 51,072 - Discharged - 16,940 Grand total deaths from battle and disease 200,000 of Confederate army during the war. Available active force in the field at close of war. 100,000 - 600,000 NUMBERS AND LOSSES IN THE CIVIL WAR ESTIMATE BASED CONFEDERATE MUSTER-ROLLS UNITED STATES WAR DEPARTMENT. There is exact and indisputable evidence upon which are numbers, as estimated by Dr. Jones and the other writers mentioned, must be greatly enlarged. In be United States War Department there are muster-rolls which record the casualties of a considerable portion of the Confederate regiments. A tabulation of the losses there recorded shows - Killed in action - 52,954 - Died of wounds - 21,570 - Died of disease - 59,297 - Deserted - 104,428 - Discharged - 57,762 Total - 296,011 NUMBERS AND LOSSES IN THE CIVIL WAR ESTIMATE BASED CONFEDERATE MUSTER-ROLLS UNITED STATES WAR DEPARTMENT. There is exact and indisputable evidence upon which are numbers, as estimated by Dr. Jones and the other writers mentioned, must be greatly enlarged. In be United States War Department there are muster-rolls which record the casualties of a considerable portion of the Confederate regiments. A tabulation of the losses there recorded shows The number of killed in the Union army, was obtained by a similar tabulation of its muster-rolls. This afterwards increased 15,000 by final statements" and affidavits filed at the Pension Bureau. All who died of wounds were included, thereas, in the reports of battles, only those who Cried on the field were usually reported to be among the killed and mortally wounded, and the large numbers of wounded who afterwards died of their wounds in the hospitals were reported as wounded. Many reported at the close of the action as missing were in fact killed in action.' In view of the absence of Confederate reports of actions where large losses must have occurred, notably in 1864 and 1865, any summing-up of the casualties from the reports must necessarily be incomplete, and the number (94,000) arrived at by Colonel Fox can be accepted only as a minimum. As new information is unveiled, it will be placed here for everyone to see.

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