Posted on 04/03/2012 11:07:36 PM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
A much higher percentage of the population of the South was involved in the war, since a good deal of it was fought on their territory and the South was much less populated than the North. So if you're a Southerner, it's far more likely that your ancestors were involved in the war. (Although my husband's N.J. ancestors had a couple of men in the Union Army - of course they were Irish and spoiling for a fight).
If I got into extended family, cousins and so forth, could probably get over 100 easily. My mother's paternal ancestors arrived here from Scotland right around 1860 and were urban tradesmen, so were not involved. But her maternal ancestors were in it up to their eyeballs, mostly in a quiet way (city guards and so forth). My dad's family is full of Confederate ancestors, including 1 gg grandfather who was a Captain of Artillery (and incidentally looked just like Colonel Sanders), another who was a private in the Partisan Rangers, and a third who was an infantryman.
The private in the Partisan Rangers refused the oath, but nobody ever did anything about it. He eventually served in the Alabama Legislature without having taken the oath, and this was pointed to with some approbation in his 'official' biography.
Exactly. One of my gg grandfathers never really recovered from Shiloh, lived with his daughter and her husband until his early death. Reading between the lines, I think he had PTSD or 'shell shock'. He was an older soldier (almost 40 iirc) and I don't think he had the resilience of the younger men -- it's like my dad said about WWII - "when you're 19, you think you're going to live forever."
She put up a beautiful monument to him in the Coosa (AL) Presbyterian Church cemetery - it says on the side "His body lies on the battlefield, unmarked and unknown".
She never remarried.
I kinda doubt that, my dad’s family is from northern Alabama and every male between the ages of around 20 and 40 was in. I’ve read their letters home, and most of the extended family and neighbors were in as well. The women were running the farms in their absence.
North won a war of Attrition, not a war on the battlefield.
The Emancipation Proclamation won the war for the north, nothing else. Europe was prepared to join the war on the side of the south and break the blockades. Lincoln knowing this would be the end of the union, issued the Emancipation Proclamation which made the war politically no longer just a civil war (at least as far as Europe was concerned), but a war against slavery (even though it honestly freed no slave legally and MD and WV were slave states of the Union), which made it impossible for the european powers to get involved politically.
WWI was a disaster on all fronts.. an entire continent at war due to treaty agreements that got triggered over an individuals assassination, followed by years of stalemate meat grinding.
I cannot even begin to comprehend what madness had to be going on in leaders minds after it was clearly obvious what a disaster it was, yet it continued, and continued and continued.
To be fair none were prepared for the full onslaught of industrialized warfare.. Sheer and utter madness can be the only excuse. How does an entire continent go mad?
BOR still sucks at TV.
Lol, many great commanders have done far more with far less. Lee is over rated.
That was Lee’s reason for going to Gettsburg, to gain food supplies from the farms along the way.
In addition to the human casualties, The South felt the
effects of The War Between The States for 100 years afterward.
The survivors on both sides often suffered mentally and physically the rest of their lives.
My Dad’s grandfather suffered from what we would call PTSD after years of seeing and being involved in deadly carnage of the war.
In fact he got a pension for his problems.
The survivors on both sides often suffered mentally and physically the rest of their lives.
My Dad’s grandfather suffered from what we would call PTSD after years of seeing and being involved in deadly carnage of the war.
In fact he got a pension for his problems.
There wasn’t much enthusiasm for the Confederate cause in Northern Alabama. Many of the Confederate soldiers from that area were resuctant conscripts enrolled under the oppressive hand of the Confederate state administered by often corrupt and sometimes outright criminal local Confederate power structures. The desertion rate of such conscripts were high and in the end it was crippling to the Confederacy.
The 1st Alabama Cavalry was raised from Alabama Unionists at Huntsville, Alabama and Memphis, Tennessee in October, 1862 after Federal troops occupied the area. It was attached to the XVI Corps in various divisions until November 1864, when it became part of the XV Corps. During this time, its duties mostly consisted of scouting, raiding, reconnaissance, flank guard, and providing screening to the infantry while on the march.
The regiment was selected by Major General William T. Sherman to be his escort as he began his march to the sea. It was assigned to the Third Division of the Cavalry Corps, Military Division of the Mississippi in January 1865. It fought at the battles of Monroe’s Crossroads and Bentonville and was present at the surrender of the Army of Tennessee at the Bennett Place. It was sent to the District of Northern Alabama, Department of the Cumberland in June 1865.
The regiment was mustered out of service at Huntsville, Alabama on October 20, 1865, with only 397 men present. Out of the 2,000 men who served in the unit during the course of the war, 345 were killed in action, died in prison, of disease or other non-battle causes, 88 were captured, and 279 deserted, with no accurate count of the number of wounded.
The 1st Alabama Cavalry was raised from Alabama Unionists at Huntsville, Alabama and Memphis, Tennessee in October, 1862 after Federal troops occupied the area. It was attached to the XVI Corps in various divisions until November 1864, when it became part of the XV Corps. During this time, its duties mostly consisted of scouting, raiding, reconnaissance, flank guard, and providing screening to the infantry while on the march.
The regiment was selected by Major General William T. Sherman to be his escort as he began his march to the sea. It was assigned to the Third Division of the Cavalry Corps, Military Division of the Mississippi in January 1865. It fought at the battles of Monroe’s Crossroads and Bentonville and was present at the surrender of the Army of Tennessee at the Bennett Place. It was sent to the District of Northern Alabama, Department of the Cumberland in June 1865.
The regiment was mustered out of service at Huntsville, Alabama on October 20, 1865, with only 397 men present. Out of the 2,000 men who served in the unit during the course of the war, 345 were killed in action, died in prison, of disease or other non-battle causes, 88 were captured, and 279 deserted, with no accurate count of the number of wounded.
Wow one regiment. Do you know how many regiments the south had from MD?
I'm not seeing it there. I'm sure there were Union sympathizers, just as there were in Georgia. But I don't see any sign that their numbers were significant, let alone "crippling to the Confederacy".
There were 7 or 8 regiments from Alabama. All but one formed late in the war. The first Alabama cavalry was formed up in 1862, relatively early in the war, in response to an idiot in confederate uniform trying to increase enlistments by burning crops and barns. That did not work as expected. 2000 went north.
Each “+” (cross) represents 10,000 deaths (or fraction thereof)
Revolutionary War 6,188 +
War of 1812 4,505 +
Mexican War 4,152 +
U. S. Civil War (both sides) 498,332 + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + add stars: + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Spanish-American War 2,446 +
World War I 116,516 + + + + + + + + + + + +
World War II 405,399 + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Korea 54,246 + + + + + +
Vietnam 58,167 + + + + + +
Desert Storm 293 +
Afghanistan/Iraq Liberation 3,500 +
Grand Total all U.S. Wars 1,150,744 + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Abortions in the U.S. (Since Roe v. 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They knew what they were doing, and felt it was worthwhile; the American Civil War had shown them what industrialized warfare looks like (complete with trench-type warfare of attrition, blockades, bombardment of cities, etc.). Without assigning blame (it belongs to all of them), Britain stood to gain the most in terms of protecting it’s colonies while the war was waged on another’s soil - it had the least incentive for a peaceful resolution. Germany had to fight or accept that it would be forever surrounded by hostile neighbors while it’s only ally (Austria-Hungary) was slowly dismembered. Austria-Hungary was dying a slow death already, while Turkey sat on land coveted by France, Britain, and Russia (which itself was being destabilized from within). As disastrous as the war was on those countries, they knew it was fight or die; the monarchies of Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Germany, as well as the government of Turkey, were overthrown by the war.
The treaties set the wheels in motion; the dynamics were awaiting the ignition. The US had no business in the war, and that is reflected by the fact that 25 years later we were at war with 2 of our former allies (Japan & Italy).
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