> From: Matthew Mason [mailto:matthew_mason@byu.edu]
> Subject: casualty figures
>
>
>
> In my Civil War Era class the other day, I got a question that I could
> not answer to my / their satisfaction.  We were discussing the casualty
> figures at a particular battle, and someone asked what that meant as
> opposed to the dead.  I told them it included dead and wounded, but then
> a student asked if the captured and missing soldiers were included in
> these figures.  I told her I thought it included the missing but not the
> prisoners.  But the more I think about it the less sure I am.  Could
> some of you more militarily-inclined and -informed help?

The principal source on this topic is William L. Fox, Regimental Losses
in The American Civil War 1861-1865 (Albany: Brandow Printing Co.,
1898). This includes casualties of each regiment of the U.S. Army
(including the U.S. Colored regiments) and C.S. regulars and of the
several state militias (Union and Confederate). Information is also
supplied regarding the U.S. and Confederate navies. At the regimental
level, casualties fall into two broad categories: (1) killed and died of
wounds and (2) died of disease, accidents, in prison, etc. Data
concerning larger units (i.e., corps, divisions and brigades) are not
presented in a consistent manner.

There are also tabulations according to each major battle, which include
(1) killed, (2) wounded and (3) captured or missing. One tabulation
lists regiments sustaining the greatest loss. The other lists aggregate
losses by each army. For example, the Battle of Gettysburg entries show
that for the Union Army there were 3,070 killed, 14,497 wounded, 5,434
captured or missing. In the Union Army, the 24th Michigan had the
greatest casualties with 69 killed, 247 wounded and 47 missing. In the
Confederate Army, the 26th North Carolina had the greatest casualties
with 86 killed, 502 wounded and 120 missing. A note indicates that the
latter's missing were lost in Pickett's charge.

The level of detail is remarkable. In the table of deaths from "minor
causes," deaths are tabulated according to (1) murdered, (2) killed
after capture, (3) committed suicide, (4) military executions, (5)
executed by the enemy, (6) died from sunstroke, (7) causes known but not
stated and (8) causes not stated. The category "causes known but not
stated" includes deaths "resulting from quarrels, riots, and the like,
and which are not definitely reported as murder; from being shot for
insubordination, or by provost-guards or sentinels in attempting to
escape, or pass the lines; from exhaustion or exposure; killed while
depredating upon the property of citizens; and all other causes not
embraced in the preceding columns."

In the opening chapters, the author cautions that the number of missing
in action had not then been officially stated. He also notes
discrepancies between monthly returns on the one hand and action reports
on the other. So, despite the seeming exactitude of the statistics, the
numbers are only as reliable as the sources from which they are drawn
(e.g., muster rolls).

Gary Hoffman
Omaha, NE

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