BROTHER VS. BROTHER

In which war have the most Americans been killed?

The American Civil War lasted from 12 April 1861 to 9 April 1865. It not only saw more Americans killed than in any other war, but there were more Americans killed in the civil war than in World War 1, World War 11, Korea and Vietnam all put together. Union Army hospitals alone treated over 6 million soldiers during the war. During this time there were twice as many deaths from disease as there were from being shot, with diarrhea and dysentery alone killing over 44,000 Union soldiers. Many soldiers from both sides killed during the war are buried in the 79 National Civil War cemeteries, over half of these graves are marked as unknown. "Dog tags" were invented during the civil war by the United States Christian Commission as a mean of identification.

The first soldier killed in the war was a Massachusett volunteer, Luther C. Ladd, who died at Baltimore on 19 April 1861. The last soldier killed in combat was over a month after the war had officially ended. This was at a battle at Palmito Ranch in Texas.

The battle with the most soldiers killed and wounded was Gettysburg in 1863, this battle lasted three days. On the Union side 21% of those who participated were killed or wounded; on the Confederate side 30%. In total 40,322 American soldiers were killed or wounded in this single battle. One regiment, the 26th North Carolina Infantry went into this battle with 800 men. By the end of the third day 708 were dead, wounded or missing. In one company of 84 men every single soldier had been killed or wounded. The 18,000 men of General Sedgwick's Corps stretched out in a column for over 16 kilometres and had marched for over 18 hours, stopping to rest only once to get to Gettysburg to join this battle.

The worst single day of battle was at Antietem Creek, near Sharpsburg, Maryland on 17 September 1862 when nearly 23,000 soldiers were killed or wounded. This is about nine times the number of casualties the Americans suffered during D-Day in World War 11. However a different battle must have seemed even more horrific. During the Battle of Cold Harbor an estimated 7,000 soldiers died in a period of 20 minutes when Confederate forces assaulted a fortified Union position.

In a war where brother literally fought against brother there are some very interesting and colourful facts. It was the first war which used weapons such as a practical machine gun, a repeating rifle, siege artillery mounted on railway carriages, iron-clad ships, torpedoes and multi-manned submarines. It was the first war to make extensive use of trenches, reconnaissance from a hot-air balloon, voting in the field for a national election and the first photograph taken in combat.

There were 2.3 million men enlisted in the Union Army during the war. Seventy percent of these were under the age of 23 years old. Approximately 100,000 of them were 16 years old, and another 100,000 were 15. Three hundred were younger than 13, and 25 who were younger than 10 years old. About 300 women also disguised themselves as men to fight in the war. The last Union soldier, Albert Woolson died in 1956; and the last Confederate soldier died in 1959 aged 117.

Throughout the war there were over 400 Confederate generals, including Robert E. Lee, Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson and James Longstreet. Jackson was eventually killed by his own men, who mistook him for the enemy. The Union army had more than 550 generals, including Ulysses S. Grant, Phil Sheridan, Dan Sickles and George Armstrong Custer. General Sickles had his leg amputated after it was crushed by a cannon ball at the Battle of Gettysburg. Sickles kept the amputated leg bone, and the cannon ball and later presented them to the Army Medical Museum. One person not to be made general was a Polish immigrant, Wladimir Krzyanowski. Krzyanowski commanded troops from New York but the U.S. Senate found it too difficult to pronounce his name and so would not confirm his promotion to general.

The war not only pitched neighbour against neighbour but often families were also divided. In 1862 when J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry raided Chambersburg in Pennsylvannia they were pursued by Union cavalry commanded by his father-in-law, General George Cooke. President Lincoln, the Commander-In-Chief of the Union Army had four brothers-in-law in the Confederate Army.

Clinton Prentiss was a major in the Union 6th Maryland Infantry. His younger brother, William was in the Confederate 2nd Maryland Infantry. Although they had been separated for four years their regiments fought each other at Petersburg on 2 April 1865 (7 days before the end of the war). Both were wounded in the battle and were taken to the same hospital in Washington where both later died.

For some Americans it was difficult to decide which side they should be fighting on. William MaGruder was in command of a squadron of the 1st United States Cavalry at the First Battle of Bull Run. In August 1862 he was granted leave, and two months later he joined the Confederate Army to finally be killed at Gettysburg. William Gillespie graduated from the Virginian Military Institute in 1862. While awaiting his appointment to Confederate 'Stonewall' Jackson's staff, Gillespie deserted and joined the Union army. He later became Adjutant of the 14th West Virginia Cavalry. Even the south's most famous general, Robert E. Lee was at first offered a command in the Union army.

Henry Morton Stanley (who said "Doctor Livingstone, I presume") joined the Confederate army and was part of a charge at the Battle of Shiloh, where he was taken prisoner. He later joined the Union army. In 1861 Mark Twain joined the Marion Rangers as a lieutenant but after firing only one shot in battle he left before it became part of the Confederate forces.

A civil war battle was fought in the middle of the Arizona Desert on 15 April 1862. It was fought by 26 men, but is the westernmost battle of the war.

In 1863 at the Battle of Stone's River in Tennessee Union forces fired over 2 million bullets and over 20,000 artillery rounds in three days. The weight of this ammunition was more than 170,000 kilograms. At the Battle of First Bull Run it has been estimated that between 8,000 and 10,000 rounds were fired for every soldier killed or wounded. 80% of all wounds inflicted in the war came from a single shot muzzle loading rifle used by both sides. Only 10% of casualties were caused by artillery fire.

In 1864 the U.S.S. Kearsarge and the C.S.S. Alabama fought an hour long naval battle which resulted in the sinking of the Alabama. The battle was fought in the English Channel and was watched by Frenchman standing on the beach in Cherbourg, France. Another ship, the Confederate cruiser Shenandoah sailed completely around the world attacking Union shipping. It eventually surrendered to the British at Liverpool seven months after the war ended.

For more interesting facts on the American Civil War I recommend: William Price's Civil War Handbook.