The human cost of the American Civil War

There are some problems with the way they did the census back then. But perhaps the starting point is the "Interview of the Select Committees of the Senate", Senate Miscellaneous Documents, doc. no. 26, vol. l,45th Congress, 3rd Session, December 17, 1878, p. 15. The 1870 census was recognized at the time as the most inaccurate ever done. The undercount in the south was the worst and African Americans are estimated now to have been undercounted by 10%.

Then there were odd things that we take for granted that were not then. I am not sure if there is a source for all of them. By illustration: in many states, those who died between a census were not counted at all. In Virginia, deaths between a census were tabulated in a central place only in the 1850's. (Before then death certificates were simply filed away.) Those records were lost in many county courthouses and in Richmond during the war. My guess is other states did the same and with the chaos between 1860 and 1870, it would only be worse. Thus if a child was born and died between 1860 and 1870 and had a war related death, disease, starvation, illness or injury they would not be counted at all.

Early studies did not even include civilian casualties. The early estimates of 50,000 Confederate civilian deaths is now considered too low.

Another disconnect might be immigrants who served in the army, arriving and dying between 1860 and 1870. The army statistics would pick them up, but not the census. About 25% of Union and 9% of Confederate soldiers were foreign born. How many arrived and died before the census could count them is a guess.

Another consideration is that modern scholarship has started to count those who died after the war due to wounds, injuries, or illness that occurred during the war.

Another figure is the amount of non-military blacks who perished. They were counted differently in the 1860 & 1870 census. They were not counted in the 50,000+ Confederate civilian deaths.

Not even the historical societies have a handle on the civilian deaths. The bread riots of Richmond and Mobile were not isolated, but occurred throughout the south. Trains carrying food and supplies to the confederate army were stopped and raided by civilians hunger was so widespread.

Dear husband
… I received your two letters. They are the first since the 12th of June. I haven’t much to write only it is hard times here. For something to eat we have to go to Gwinnett for corn. Meat is so high I can’t buy it, I haven’t the money. I am afraid we won’t get bread. I have never known hard times before. I am going to sell the mule. I can’t feed him. I would sell him for corn. I want you to come home if you can. If you come home I will tell you a heap. I can’t write.

Nellie Jett June, 1864 Sandy Springs, GA

What are horrible bloody war, there is a beautiful song from the Sergio Leone masterpiece "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" called "Story of a Soldier" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upjlKlV9uIA chokes me up it's so beautiful!!

Matthew Brady's pictures document horrors that no journalist could adequately describe.

Salah said:

Most sources indicate that slightly more than 600,000 Americans died during the Civil War. This figure counts soldiers who were killed or mortally wounded in action, died from illnesses, diseases, accidents, crimes, executions, and suicides, and civilians who were killed during military actions, or executed for spying or similar activities.

However, the figure does vary a lot. Some sources now say around 750,000 dead, and I've seen others push it to slightly under a million.

Obviously no large-scale war's casualties could ever be documented with complete precision. But you'd think that a nation capable of creating a precise census right before the War could figure out how many of those people suffered war-related deaths by the summer of 1865?

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I always imagined that 650,000 was as close of a number we could get. I don't imagine it too much higher.

When you factor in total "human cost," it would be worthwhile noting the men who returned home with physical disabilities, missing limbs, mental/emotional trauma, etc. Confederate and Union aside, the only war in U.S. history where the casualties were only U.S., which maximizes the effect.

New York sent something like 50% of it's able bodied young men to fight for the Union. That sort of sacrifice, despite the eventual casualty counts, is bound to have a lasting effect on any region. I'd imagine there are a large number of unknowns, especially in terms of Confederate records, prison camp records, riots, starvation, slaves, etc. Far to complex to get a solid, reliable number.

It should be noted that a large percentage of the wounded casualties were amputees in many cases unable to fully regain the place they held in society ante-bellum, not counting the men who went insane/mad from what today would be called ptsd due to the war, I can't remember well where I read it, but I distinctly recall that a huge percentage of mental institution patients after the war were veterans who had gone insane from their war experiences. All these men were casualties one way or another and in most cases needed caring by their families, state, or government for decades after the war. These statistics are harder to quantify in my opinion and have just as much of an impact on the postwar society as the military deaths have.

To put the civil war in a greater historical context of the United States, think of the following. During the civil war, the state of New York alone recieved deaths due to war to the order of over 46,000. These are more deaths due to the civil war than the entire US armed forces recieved during the Korean War including MIA. If you add the deaths of the three largest (demographically) states of the Union in 1861 (New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio) you get a higher body count than the entire country suffered years later in the 1st world war.

This website is where i'm getting most of the information, on a state to state basis and comparing it to information on wikipedia regarding the 1860 census and statistics on the other armed conflicts.
Civil War States Losses and Troops Furnished

mark87 said:

It should be noted that a large percentage of the wounded casualties were amputees in many cases unable to fully regain the place they held in society ante-bellum, not counting the men who went insane/mad from what today would be called ptsd due to the war, I can't remember well where I read it, but I distinctly recall that a huge percentage of mental institution patients after the war were veterans who had gone insane from their war experiences. All these men were casualties one way or another and in most cases needed caring by their families, state, or government for decades after the war. These statistics are harder to quantify in my opinion and have just as much of an impact on the postwar society as the military deaths have.

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The aftermath of the civil war also saw the first drug epidemic in the United States, when some returning veterans who had been treated with opiates for war injuries, returned with addictions.

Scaeva said:

The aftermath of the civil war also saw the first drug epidemic in the United States, when some returning veterans who had been treated with opiates for war injuries, returned with addictions.

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This is a part of history that has always fascinated me, and hopefully in the future I can further research it as I think it could paint an interesting picture of the post-war civil society. In James Gandolfini's documentary War Torn, one of the people interviewed was the daughter of a world war II vet, and it really stuck with me when she say's 'i just thought it was normal for everyone's dad to scream in the middle of the night and stuff like that', that type of stuff that has familial and societal repercussions, must go on in some cases for several decades after the war is over.