David Ireland
Corporal
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2017
How many died on each side in the Overland Campaign?
Good numbers, Ryan.Officially, the Union suffered 7,621 killed although it's possible that that figure is too low (at the Wilderness, Gouverneur Warren undercounted his casualties so the true count may be slightly higher).
According to Alfred Young, the Confederate killed came to 4,352.
Overall, figure somewhere between 12,000-13,000.
Ryan
This number may be slightly higher given "mortally wounded" who were not often counted as KIA. e.g. in the ORs Trevilian Station has nine Union officers KIA but the footnote lists eleven officers "killed or mortally wounded" there.
Based on this admittedly imperfect sample and another from St Mary's Church (5 KIA, 7 killed or mortally wounded) add about 20-40% if you count mortally wounded.
The Overland Campaign was long enough and there were enough separate battles so that the theory of large number statistics should hold. In that case, Col. Trevor Dupuy's classic study shows that for the American Civil War, the ratio of killed to wounded was 4.55:1 and the ratio of surviving wounded to battle deaths was 2.38:1. You could try applying those ratios to come up with a reasonable estimate of the total number of deaths. Hope this helps.How many died on each side in the Overland Campaign?
That's the thing, both my samples used Union data. Granted they're only cases for officers, but the entries in the returns still indicated more named total deaths (including KIA and MWIA) than the numerical KIA count.The Union generally counted the mortally wounded among the killed when they died relatively shortly after the battle, so the majority of the mortally wounded would already be counted (although there is still some wiggle room).
I'm going to assume here that the Union and the Confederacy were roughly comparable in their KIA/WIA/MIA ratios and that the CSA had 3/5 of the casualties of the Union. It's imperfect but let's call it the 3/5 compromise.In that case, Col. Trevor Dupuy's classic study shows that for the American Civil War, the ratio of killed to wounded was 4.55:1 and the ratio of surviving wounded to battle deaths was 2.38:1. You could try applying those ratios to come up with a reasonable estimate of the total number of deaths. Hope this helps.
"The raw statistical data is not entirely reliable. For instance, there is reason to believe that the killed in action figures for the Union Army in the Civil War may be low, perhaps by a factor of 10% to 20%." HANDBOOK ON GROUND FORCES ATTRITION IN MODERN WARFARE, SEPTEMBER 1986 - Trevor N. Dupuy, et al.Officially, the Union suffered 7,621 killed although it's possible that that figure is too low (at the Wilderness, Gouverneur Warren undercounted his casualties so the true count may be slightly higher).