U.S. Civil War Took Bigger Toll Than Previously Estimated

Science Daily ^ | 11/21/2012 | Science Daily

[U-238]

The Civil War -- already considered the deadliest conflict in American history -- in fact took a toll far more severe than previously estimated. That's what a new analysis of census data by Binghamton University historian J. David Hacker reveals.

Hacker says the war's dead numbered about 750,000, an estimate that's 20 percent higher than the commonly cited figure of 620,000. His findings will be published in December in the journal Civil War History.

"The traditional estimate has become iconic," Hacker says. "It's been quoted for the last hundred years or more. If you go with that total for a minute -- 620,000 -- the number of men dying in the Civil War is more than in all other American wars from the American Revolution through the Korean War combined. And consider that the American population in 1860 was about 31 million people, about one-tenth the size it is today. If the war were fought today, the number of deaths would total 6.2 million."

The 620,000 estimate, though widely cited, is also widely understood to be flawed. Neither the Union nor the Confederacy kept standardized personnel records. And the traditional estimate of Confederate war dead -- 258,000 -- was based on incomplete battle reports and a crude guess of deaths from disease and other non-combat causes. Although it is impossible to catalogue the fate of each of the 3 million or more men who fought in the war from 1861-65, some researchers have tried to re-count deaths in selected companies, regiments and areas. But Hacker says these attempts at a direct count will always miss people and therefore always underestimate deaths.

"There are also huge problems estimating mortality with census data," Hacker explains.

[Tallguy]

It's also important to remember that during the Overland Campaign, other federal armies were supposed to be advancing on all fronts. Grant made sure that the Army of the Potomac did its job. Had David Hunter in the Valley and Ben Butler on Bermuda Hundred done theirs, the campaign would have been very different.

I had an exchange with another Freeper who contended that Gen. George H. Thomas was the best Union General. He contended that Grant was jealous of Thomas because he was demanding offensive action in middle Tennessee before Thomas was "ready". The simpler explanation is that Thomas was focused on his own knitting to the exclusion of Grant's overall strategic concept. So while Thomas may have been proven 'correct' by his victory at Nashville, we'll never know how many casualites this cost Grant in the East because of insufficient 'pressure' in the vital Western Theater.

I'm a fan of both Grant & Thomas but Grant held "The Big Chair" so I'm not willing to make direct comparisons at that point in the war.

[Tallguy]

Many officers on both sides suffered from serious wounds and continued to serve. Some were hopelessly addicted to opiates as well as alcohol to control the pain. This obvious implications are that senior generals may have been impaired when key tactical decisions were required. There was a suggestion that the union general in charge of the assault at the Battle of the Crater was basically stoned and misdirected the attack. This was probably not the only instance of a command failure due to drug use.

[Boomer One]

Not to mention that the South lacked foundries to produce needed weapons and that the north waged war on the general populace as well as soldiers.

[W. W. SMITH]

One of my great aunts has, she insists, traced the family back a little over one thousand years and is certain we are related to every royal family in Europe. The wife is a direct descendant of William of Orange making the two of us 20th cousins or there about.

[W. W. SMITH]

They were, we were all Americans and over the years I have informed several non citizens, who where disparaging American fighters, that we killed more of each other than all of our enemies succeeded in killing in all of our history put together. At that point they shut their mouths and go away.

[W. W. SMITH]

Northern Alabama was not providing enough men for the war. To correct this the Confederate states passed the conscription act (IRC) in April 1863. That did not increase the numbers to any extant so they sent an army unit into northern Alabama to encourage more enlistments by burning crops and barns. Those actions encouraged the men of the state to form a cavalry unit which marched north and fought for the union the remainder of the war.

A little known Civil War fact.

[central_va]

A little known Civil War fact fantasy.

I am willing to entertain this assertion, care to document this one?

Here is an example of a real draft riot:

NYC draft riot. Those Ny'ers were all behind King Abe. LOL

[ctdonath2]

So...what was the answer?

[j.argese]

I refuse to sit here idly by while you attack the contemptible acts of rioting, destroying property and beating blacks by the forefathers of the obama demographic! I’m surprised there were no abortions or sodomy going on!

[x_plus_one]

Add up the jayhawker/bushwacker deaths in bleeding kansas (Lawrence by Quantrill), (all the deaths attributed to John Brown and his minions - Marais de Cygne Massacre) and western missouri (Osceola by Governor Jim Lane) - All before the bombing of Fort Sumpter.

Add to that the unintended consequences of general order eleven which depopulated and stripped the western Missouri border counties of all humanity.

And this was just in western missouri and eastern kansas - before the war.

The Civil War Era (1854 - 1865) took more lives than 750,000.

"Order No. 11 and the Civil War on the Border",by Albert Castel

http://www.civilwarstlouis.com/History2/castelorder11.htm

[x_plus_one]

Someone said that more Americans have royal blood percentage wise than the population of Europe. The reason is that when second and third born and younger sons had nothing to do - it was cheaper to send them here than keep them there.

[x_plus_one]

Missouri was kept in the union by the German immigrants in St. Louis. They formed enough units to hold enough territory long enough to make a difference.

[PalmettoMason]

Oh, no problem. No need for privacy. His name was Samuel Hiram Rainey (sometimes spelled Raney on some of his muster roll slips) of Company F, 16th South Carolina Volunteers.

[Mr Rogers]

“Lee was the best military tactician in Western history.”

Maybe, but Grant was better at strategy.

[x_plus_one]

Lincoln was perceived as a son of the quakers who were rabid abolutionists to the point of violence :-)

No one ever considers the influence of the quakers on the political evolution of the USA. The Friends were considered traitors and were required to take loyalty oaths after the revolutionary war. They have stoked the fires of anti-christian liberalism from the time of Hicksite division when they had a schism and the majority adopted the stance that Christ was not divine or the center of their 'church'.

Quakers started the eastern liberal political tradition of dissension and have had a chip on their shoulder since day one.

[AFret.]

Not as great as Lee. Lee was the best military tactician in Western history.

---

Perhaps, but he is also remembered as forcing the frontal assault,(Pickett’s Charge) on the third day of Gettysburg.
Jackson wanted to flank..Lee said no.

[kalee]

I had a 3x great uncle who died at Chancellorsville. He was the family mystery, the 17 year old, youngest son, who stole his mama’s horse, rode off to war, and never returned. They received a word of mouth report after the war that he had been killed, it broke his mother’s heart. I grew up on the stories about him, told by my grandfather. The stories always ended with they know he fell but never knew where he rests. For my grandfather’s 98th birthday I found the missing uncle’s grave. He “rests” in the Confederate Cemetery in Fredericksburg.
It was a sweet and emotional thing to see his name on the marker, lay some flowers and say a prayer, after all that time. (I felt from all the stories I had heard that I knew him.) My grandfather cried when I gave him the pictures. He kept saying “there he is, you found him.”.
There were over 30,000 casualties at that battle. The park ranger who helped me locate him was surprised she could find it, since so many were unidentified and are in unmarked graves.

We also have a family connection to General Lee.

[Lazamataz]

U.S. Civil War Took Bigger Toll Than Previously Estimated

I, personally, lost a good portion of my brain to a musket ball.

[x_plus_one]

Most southerners were not slave owners. They fought to protect their families, land and neighbors from pillage and plunder. How many would stand by today and allow their homes, families and towns burned to the ground by an invading army?

[kalee]

Yes, the French and Italian royal families for us.

We have a friend who is related to a British aristocratic family. When visiting the UK he and his wife toured the ancestral estate. They mentioned to the guide that they were related to the family. After the tour, they were invited to tea during which the aristocrat made a point of telling them that their relationship was on the”wrong side of the blanket”.