Civil War Death Toll Higher Than Previously Thought

A burial party on the battlefield of Cold Harbor, 1864

The American Civil War has always had the dubious distinction of being the most deadly war in U.S. history. The number of deaths often quoted by historians is over 618,000—some 360,000 from the North and 258,000 from the South. The numbers are based on painstaking work by two Union army veterans, Thomas Leonard Livermore and William F. Fox. Among the data sources that Livermore and Fox examined were muster lists, battlefield reports, and pension records for veterans. Over half a million dead is a stunning figure, especially because the young country was so much smaller in the 1860s than it is now (the death toll was about 2 percent of the nation’s population of 30,432,000—proportionally, that would equate to more than 6.2 million of today’s U.S. population).

But the high number may actually be too low. A new study by a demographic historian has recalculated the death toll and increased it by over 20 percent, to 750,000. Professor J. David Hacker examined newly digitized census data to reach that figure. He also unearthed several flaws in previous calculations. One problem was that deaths from disease were correlated with battlefield deaths. However, the North had much better medical care than the South, so more Confederate soldiers died as a result of their wounds. In addition, rural men died from disease in greater numbers than city men. The Confederate army had more farmhands than did the Union army; therefore, increasing those deaths increased the total count. Another flaw in the previous number was caused by failure to distinguish between native-born and immigrant soldiers. The large number of immigrants had disguised the true number of war dead.

The new number amplifies what a horrendous disruption the Civil War made in American society. As Prof. Hacker said, “We’re seeing at least 37,000 more widows here, and 90,000 more orphans. That’s a profound social impact, and it’s our duty to get it right.”

Image credit: © Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division

Related Links

• New Estimate Raises Civil War Death Toll
  This article takes the reader through the complex steps used to develop the new estimate.
  (Source: New York Times, April 2, 2012)
• Recounting the Dead
  J. David Hacker, who developed the new death toll number, reviews efforts—often stymied—during the nineteenth century to record a more accurate count.
  (Source: New York Times, April 2, 2012)
• Civil War Era Collection at Gettysburg College
  Browse letters, pamphlets, political cartoons, and many other resources about the Civil War at this site.
  (Source: Gettysburg College; accessed April 30, 2012)
• Civil War Trust: Saving America’s Civil War Battlefields
  Examine a wide range of materials relating to the battlefields of the American Civil War.
  (Source: Civil War Trust; accessed April 30, 2012)