FOX’S REGIMENTAL LOSSES
CHAPTER XIII.
CONTINUED.....
In Table B, Column 1, it is shown that 199,720 died from disease alone, in camps, hospitals, or at home. An interesting question arises here as to what proportion of this loss was due to army life. What is the normal death rate ? How many of these men would have died had they remained at home ? The tables in use by the actuaries of the life insurance companies show that of a thousand healthy men at the age of twenty-three--selected risks --eight will die within a year. Assuming the average strength of the army to have been 1,000,000 men for four(*) years, and the average age to have been twenty-three, it appears that 32,000 of these deaths would have occurred in time of peace, and that the excess was due solely to the fatal vicissitudes of a soldier's life.
In Table C, a subdivision is made of the number represented by Column IV, Table B. The 2,034 deaths in Column VII, Table C-- Causes known but not classified- include those "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."(+)
After accounting for all known causes of death, there still remain -- Table C, Column VIII 12.121 cases of cause unknown In these cases the name of the dead soldier is borne on the muster-out roll, or "final statement," with the marginal remark, "Died ;" but with no further statement to show the cause of his death. Undoubtedly, the most of these men, or nearly all, died from disease; and although they cannot be so included in any statistical exhibit, they should be borne in mind as a probable addition to the number of deaths from that cause.
Many will deem it strange that, with over 2,300,000 three-year enlistments, the total strength of the army, present and absent, never reached half that number. This can be partly explained by the large number discharged for physical disability incurred in the service. Over 250,000 men were honorably discharged for disabilities arising from wounds or diseases which unfitted them for further service.
Another serious cause of depletion was the remarkably large number of desertions. The reported desertions during the war numbered 268,530. The Provost Marshal General estimated that 25 per cent. of these were wrongly reported; that these men were absent unintentionally or unavoidably,-- and placed the number of actual desertions at 201,397.(*) Of this number, 76,526 were arrested and sent to their regiments.
The desertions were most frequent in the Regular Army, 16,365 men having deserted from that arm of the service during the war, a loss of over 24 per cent., while in the volunteer
II White Troops. V Indian Nations.
III Sailors and Marines. VI Aggregate.
IV Colored Troops. T Total Deaths, all causes.
STATES, TERRITORIES, ETC.
I. II. III. IV. V. VI. T
Alabama 2,576 .... .... .... 2,576 345
Arkansas 8,289 .... .... .... 8,289 1,713
California 15,725 .... .... .... 15,725 573
Colorado 4,903 .... .... .... 4,903 323
Connecticut 51,937 2,163 1,764 .... 55,864 5,354
Dakota 206 .... .... .... 206 6
Delaware 11,236 94 954 .... 12,284 882
District of Columbia 11,912 1,353 3,269 .... 16,534
Florida 1,290 .... .... .... 1,290 215
Georgia .... .... .... .... .... 15
Illinois 255,057 2,224 1,811 .... 259,092 34,834
Indiana 193,748 1,078 1,537 .... 196,363 26,672
Iowa 75,797 5 440 .... 76,242 13,001
Kansas 18,069 .... 2,080 .... 20,149 2,630
Kentucky 51,743 314 23,703 .... 75,760 10,774
Louisiana 5,224 .... .... .... 5,224 945
Maine 64,973 5,030 104 .... 70,107 9,398
Maryland 33,995 3,925 8,718 .... 46,638 2,982
Massachusetts 122,781 19,983 3,966 .... 146,730 13,942
Michigan 85,479 498 1,387 .... 87,364 14,753
Minnesota 23,913 3 104 .... 24,020 2,584
Mississippi 545 .... .... .... 545 78
Missouri 100,616 151 8,344 .... 109,111 13,885
Nebraska 3,157 .... .... .... 3,157 239
Nevada 1,080 .... .... .... 1,080 33
New Hampshire 32,930 882 125 .... 33,937 4,882
New Jersey 67,500 8,129 1,185 .... 76,814 5,754
New Mexico 6,561 .... .... .... 6,561 277
New York 409,561 35,164 4,125 .... 448,850 46,534
North Carolina 3,156 .... .... .... 3,156 360
Ohio 304,814 3,274 5,092 .... 313,180 35,475
Oregon 1,810 .... 1,810 .... 45 ....
Pennsylvania 315,017 14,307 8,612 .... 337,936 33,183
Rhode Island 19,521 1,878 1,837 .... 23,236 1,321
Tennessee 31,092 .... .... .... 31,092 6,777
Texas 1,965 .... .... .... 1,965 141
Vermont 32,549 619 120 .... 33,288 5,224
Virginia .... .... .... .... .... 42
Washington Territory 964 .... .... .... 964 22
West Virginia 31,872 .... 196 .... 32,068 4,017
Wisconsin 91,029 133 165 .... 91,327 12,30l
Indian Nations .... .... .... 3,530 3,530 1,018
Colored Troops .... .... 99,337 .... 99,337 36,847
Veteran Reserve Corps .... .... .... .... .... 1,672
U.S. Vet. Vols. (Hancock's Corps) .... .... .... .... .... 106
U.S. Sharpshooters and Engineers .... .... .... .... .... 552
U.S. Volunteer Infantry .... .... .... .... .... 243
Generals and Staffs (Vols .... .... .... .... .... 239
Miscellaneous, Brigade Bands, &c .... .... .... .... .... 232
Regular Army .... .... .... .... .... 5,798
Totals 2,494,592 101,207 178,975 3,530 2,778,304 359,528
service the average rate was 6 per cent. In the Kansas troops the desertions exceeded 11 per cent. of the enrollment, the percentage being the highest of any State.
In addition to the deserters, there were thousands of other absentees. In March, 1863, the returns of the Army of the Potomac showed that 2,922 officers and 81,964 enlisted men were absent, the majority of whom were absent without any known cause; and in December, 1862, a return of the Army of the Cumberland showed that with 76,725 present there were 46,677 absent.
Desertions were frequent among the drafted men, for their service was compulsory; but there were not many of this class in the ranks. The Union Army was essentially a volunteer army. True, a conscription act was enforced; but its provisions for exemption were so lenient that the number of drafted men actually held to service was only 52,068, a small number as compared with the total enlistment. In addition to the drafted men held to service, there were 75,429 conscripts who sent substitutes. These substitutes have generally been classed as mercenaries; but they were men who went to the war without compulsion, and if they received money for the act it should be remembered that all the volunteers who enlisted during the latter part of the war received large bounties.
Besides the substitutes just mentioned, there were 42,581 men who enlisted as substitutes for men who, although not drafted, were enrolled under the Conscription Act and were liable to future drafts, but who secured exemption therefrom by sending men to the field in their place. There were, also, 86,724 drafted men who received exemption upon the payment of $300.00 each, in commutation. The best result of the Conscription Act was the stimulus which it gave to volunteering, rather than the number of men directly obtained by its enforcement.
[excerpt]
CASUALTIES IN THE NAVY.
The number of men in the naval service during the war was 132,554, of whom 7,600 were already in the service at the outbreak of hostilities. There were 1,804 killed and mortally wounded in battle. This includes 342 who were scalded to death, while in action, by escaping steam from boilers which had been pierced by the enemy's shot; also, 308 men drowned in action. The latter were men who went down with their ships,--their flag flying, and their guns firing defiantly from port-holes level with the waves. In addition to the 1,804 who lost their lives in battle, there were 2,226 wounded who survived their injuries.
The deaths in the navy from disease and accidents numbered 3,000. This includes 71 deaths from accidents; 265 from accidental drowning; 37 scalded; and 95 deaths in Confederate prisons. Unlike the army, the mortality from disease was, apparently, not in excess of the normal death rate of civil life.
Subjoined will be found a tabulation of the principal naval losses in action during the war. If some of the casualties appear trivial, let it be remembered that on most of the vessels named the crews were small; and that the loss of life, in proportion to the number engaged, was as serious as at Trafalgar or the Nile.
The losses in many cases include men who were scalded to death, and men who were drowned; but losses from such causes belong properly with the casualties, as much so as wounds from shot or shell. They were among the dire probabilities in every action,--deadly and terrible dangers which had to be confronted as well as the guns of the enemy. The changes in the methods of naval warfare, first introduced in the American War, brought a class of casualties hitherto unknown in naval combats. Our sailors fought in previous wars without the terrible danger from exploding boilers and escaping steam; and when their slowly-sinking wooden ships went down in action, there were opportunities for escape far different from any offered on an iron-clad sent rushing to the bottom by the explosion of a modern torpedo. In the action at St. Charles, the gunboat Mound City lost 150 men, killed or wounded, out of a crew of 175, but 3 officers and 22 men escaping uninjured; 82 were killed by gunshot wounds, or scalded(*) to death, and 43 others were drowned, or shot while struggling in the water. When the iron-clad Tecumseh led the column of monitors across the torpedo line at Mobile, (+) it moved as a forlorn hope which would not have been necessary in the naval combats of previous wars. In all that grand drama of heroism incidental to the Civil War, the Navy played no secondary part.
LOSSES IN THE UNITED STATES NAVY, 1861-65.
Date Vessel. Commander. Battle. Killed Wounded Missing. Aggregate
1861
Sept. 14 Colorado Russell Pensacola 3 9 -- 12
Nov. 7 Fleet Dupont Port Royal 8 23 -- 31
" 7 Tyler Walke Belmont 1 2 -- 3
1862
Feb. 2 Essex Porter (W. D.) Fort Henry 7 20 5 32
" 2 Cincinnati Stembel Fort Henry 1 7 -- 8
" 8 Fleet Goldsborough Roanoke Island 6 17 -- 23
" 15 St. Louis Paulding Fort Donelson 2 8 -- 10
" 15 Louisville Dove Fort Donelson 4 5 -- 9
" 15 Pittsburg Thompson Fort Donelson -- 2 -- 2
" 15 Carondelet Walke Fort Donelson 4 31 -- 35
Mch. 8 Cumberland Morris Hampton Roads 121
Congress Smith Hampton Roads 129
" 14 Fleet Rowan New Berne 2 11 -- 13
April 24 Fleet Farragut New Orleans 37 147 -- 184
" 24 Iroquois(*) De Camp New Orleans 8 24 -- 32
" 24 Richmond(*) Alden New Orleans 2 4 -- 6
" 24 Winona(*) Nichols New Orleans 3 5 -- 8
" 24 Pinola(*) Crosby New Orleans 3 8 -- 11
May 15 Galena Rodgers Drewry's Bluff 13 11 -- 24
June 6 Flotilla Davis Memphis -- 3 -- 3
" 17 Mound City Kilty White River 125
" 28 Fleet Farragut Vicksburg 15 30 -- 45
July 15 Carondelet Walke Vicksburg(+) 4 10 -- 14
" 15 Tyler Gwin Vicksburg(+) 8 16 - -
Hartford Wainwright Vicksburg(+) 3 6 -- 9
" 15 Wissahickon De Camp Vicksburg(+) 1 4 -- 5
" 15 Winona Nichols Vicksburg(+) 1 2 -- 3
" 15 Sciota Lowry Vicksburg(+) -- 2 -- 2
" 15 Richmond Alden Vicksburg(+) -- 2 -- 2
Oct. 3 Commodore Perry Flusser Blackwater 2 11 -- 13
Dec. 27 Benton Gwin Drumgold's Bluff 2 8 -- 10
1863.
Jan. 1 Fleet Renshaw Galveston -- -- -- 150
" 10 Louisville Owen Arkansas Post } 6 25 -- 31
" 10 De Kalb Walker Arkansas Post
11 Hatteras Blake Alabama 2 5 -- 7
" 30 Isaac Smith Conover John's Island 8 17 -- 25
Feb. 24 Indianola Brown New Carthage 1 1 7 9
Mch. 14 Hartford Palmer Port Hudson 1 2 1 4
" 14 Richmond Alden Port Hudson } 3 12 -- 15
" 14 Genesee Macomb Port Hudson
" 14 Monongahela McKinstry Port Hudson 6 21 -- 27
" 14 Mississippi Smith Port Hudson 25 39 -- 64
Date Vessel. Commander. Battle. Killed Wounded Missing. Aggregate
1863.
Mch. 19 Hartford Palmer Grand Gulf } 2 6 8 --
"19 Albatross Hart Grand Gulf -- -- -- --
"11 Chillicothe Foster Fort Pemberton 2 11 -- 13
"16 Chillicothe Foster Fort Pemberton 4 16 -- 20
"16 De Kalb Walker Fort Pemberton 3 3 -- 6
April 16 Fleet Porter Vicksburg -- 13 - - 13
" 29 Benton Greer Grand Gulf 9 19 -- 28
" 29 Tuscumbia Shirk Grand Gulf 6 24 -- 30
" 29 Pittsburg Heel Grand Gulf 6 13 -- 19
" 29 Lafayette Walke Grand Gulf -- 1 -- 1
Albatross Hart Fort De Russy 2 4 -- 6
“ 27
Cincinnati(*) Bache Vicksburg 5 14 15 34
July 7 Monongahela Read Mississippi 2 4 - - 6
Sept. 7 Clifton Crocker Sabine Pass 10 9 -- 19
" 7 Sachem Johnson Sabine Pass 7 (+) -- 7
1864.
Feb. 1 Underwriter Westervelt Neuse River 9 20 19 48
April '26 Cricket Gorringe Red River 12 19 -- 31
" 26 Hindman Pearce Red River 3 5 -- 8
" 26 Juliet Shaw Red River -- -- -- 15
Covington Lord Red River -- -- -- 44
" 31 Water Witch Pendergrast Ogeechee River 2 12 -- 14
June 19 Kearsarge Winslow Cherbourg 1 2 -- 3
" 24 Queen City Goudy White River 2 8 -- 10
'" 24 Tyler Bache White River }
" 24 Naumkeag Rogers White River 3 15 -- 18
" 24 Fawn Grove White River
25
Aug. 5 Hartford(§) Drayton Mobile Bay 28 -- 53
" 5 Brooklyn Alden Mobile Bay 11 43 -- 54
" 5 Lackawanna Marchand Mobile Bay 4 35 -- 39
" 5 Oneida Mullany Mobile Bay 8 30 -- 38
" 5 Monongahela Strong Mobile Bay -- 6 -- 6
" 5 Metacomet Jouett Mobile Bay 1 2 -- 3
" 5 Ossipee Le Roy Mobile Bay 1 7 -- 8
Richmond Jenkins Mobile Bay -- 2 -- 2
" 5 Galena Wells Mobile Bay -- 1 -- 1
" 5 Octorara Greene Mobile Bay 1 10 -- 11
" 5 Kennebec McCann Mobile Bay 1 6 -- 7
" 5 Tecumseh(||) Craven Mobile Bay -- -- -- 79
1865.
Jan. 15 Fleet Porter Fort Fisher 74 289 20 383
Mch. 29 Osage(**) Gamble Mobile Bay 3 8 -- 11
April -- Rodolph(**) Dyer Mobile Bay 4 11 -- 15
" -- Launch(**) Mobile Bay 3 -- -- 3
" -- Althea(**) Boyle Mobile Bay 2 2 -- 4
" -- Sciota(**) Magune Mobile Bay 4 6 -- 10
" -- Ida(**) Kent Mobile Bay 2 3 -- 5
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Statistics are often missing the Marines and Sailors in the discussion--be aware that these men need to be remembered as much as land troops.
M. E. Wolf