Casualties.

[bankerpapaw]

People not familiar with military terms tend to think casualties mean those killed. We know casualties include those killed, wounded or missing. However, I do have a question. What does mortally wounded mean? Does it mean those who were severely wounded and eventually died of their wounds?

 

[brass napoleon]

People not familiar with military terms tend to think casualties mean those killed. We know casualties include those killed, wounded or missing. However, I do have a question. What does mortally wounded mean? Does it mean those who were severely wounded and eventually died of their wounds?

Yes, it does.

 

[DixieRifles]

When I give a talk about my research on the casualties of the Battle of Fort Pillow, I explain that these casualty reports were collected after the battle. There was something like a company roll call to see who was present and accounted for. Usually this occurred the same day or the next day after the battle but there are many examples where they obviously waited for a better time to do this. Example, the NARA files has a casualty report for Battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge that was taken several days later at Dalton, GA.

So if a casualty was known to have died, then he would be a KIA. However, if he was still breathing, then he was counted as WIA but with notes of Severely. I don't usually see Mortally Wounded. When you see that term, I think it means the statement was used after it was known that the soldier had passed away. The only way to say his wound is mortal is to know he will die. Who really knows that?
Therefore, this soldier would be listed as WIA- severely in the company's roll. But when his friend wrote home a day later, he would state he was Mortally Wounded.

 

[jackt62]

The usual figure for combat and illness deaths in the Civil War is 620,000. I've always wondered however, whether that number included wounded soldiers who died of their wounds at a future date?

 

[Rio Bravo]

The usual figure for combat and illness deaths in the Civil War is 620,000. I've always wondered however, whether that number included wounded soldiers who died of their wounds at a future date?

I believe that Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was the last ACW Soldier to die of his wounds in 1914 aged 85.

 

[DixieRifles]

The statistic that is confusing is MIA--Missing In Action.
As you can imagine, it was difficult after a battle to re-group your unit. Most would only find their unit the next day after the battle.
For some battles, again an example of Fort Pillow, the enemy captured and occupied the fort. However, some of the MIA's really escaped capture or injury. You could say they were fleet of feet. They would be on the run until they made it back to another post. For those who were local to the area may have opted out to go home and wait it out. I have found many Death Certificates marked "Supposedly Killed at ___" and a few would later found to be not true. The soldier bascially deserted under fire.

 

[gunny]

I have seen some casualty lists that were compiled only days after Stones River that have the columns Killed, Wounded and Missing. However, within the column of wounded, they are listed as slightly, seriously or mortally. Thus ALL of the men listed mortally wounded may not die, and in other cases, some listed as only slightly or seriously wounded would die. I think it's reasonable to believe that the number of men that died as a RESULT of the war may be much larger.

There are cases of men in the Sixteenth Tennessee that were wounded and suffered from their wounds for thirty to forty or more years that finally succumbed to their wound. That would still be a mortal wound I suppose - only never accounted for.

 

[BrianB]

Jackt - About 5 years ago, a demographer named Hacker did a study of US census records and concluded that about 750,000 military age males were missing from the post-war census. He,therefore, upped the estimate of war dead to about 750,000. His numbers would include thousands (and potentially tens of thousands) of postwar deaths from wartime wounds or disease.

 

[Rio Bravo]

Casualty figures may be given within the restricted sense of "battle casualties" or they may include stragglers, sick, and administrative losses ( discharged personnel ). Missing in Action is an interesting one - it could include desertion or capture ( sent to P.O.W. Camp) or capture & execution. The 54th Massa's attack on Fort Wagner resulted in only 315 Men surviving the battle, and yet 100 members were reported missing and were never seen or heard of again. What happened to them ?

 

[Sbc]

Known but to God

 

[jackt62]

Jackt - About 5 years ago, a demographer named Hacker did a study of US census records and concluded that about 750,000 military age males were missing from the post-war census. He,therefore, upped the estimate of war dead to about 750,000. His numbers would include thousands (and potentially tens of thousands) of postwar deaths from wartime wounds or disease.

Yes, I thought I had heard something about that. I've also heard figures (can't remember where) of total mortalities of up to 1 million.

 

[Private Watkins]

General Isaac R. Sherwood used the term "tragedies" instead of casualties in his book Memories of the War (see thread http://civilwartalk.com/threads/sherwoods-memories.121932/ ). Was this term just a post-war invention of his own, or was it commonly used? Has anyone else seen this term used as such...?

Here is the excerpt from his book:

All in all Shiloh was the most signal and remarkable battle of the war. It did more than Gettysburg to dim and dampen and discourage the hopes of the Confederacy. The tragedies at Gettysburg were 26 percent. At Shiloh they were 29 percent. The tragedies of battle include killed, wounded, and missing; and Shiloh gave two Ohio-born soldiers a winning start for the White House.​

 

[AUG]

Casualty figures may be given within the restricted sense of "battle casualties" or they may include stragglers, sick, and administrative losses ( discharged personnel ). Missing in Action is an interesting one - it could include desertion or capture ( sent to P.O.W. Camp) or capture & execution. The 54th Massa's attack on Fort Wagner resulted in only 315 Men surviving the battle, and yet 100 members were reported missing and were never seen or heard of again. What happened to them ?

Missing could also be wounded men who were captured or dead that were never recovered. I would guess that many of those reported missing in the 54th Mass. were actually killed in action. Of course the field was left in the hands of the Confederates and the Federal dead were buried in mass graves (there being no truce to recover the dead either), so many of those men could have been reported missing since no one knew exactly what happened to them. I imagine that that was often the case for the side that had to leave the field in the hands of the enemy without a truce to recover the dead and wounded afterwards.

 

[Sbc]

Missing could also be wounded men who were captured or dead that were never recovered. I would guess that many of those reported missing in the 54th Mass. were actually killed in action. Of course the field was left in the hands of the Confederates and the Federal dead were buried in mass graves (there being no truce to recover the dead either), so many of those men could have been reported missing since no one knew exactly what happened to them. I imagine that that was often the case for the side that had to leave the field in the hands of the enemy without a truce to recover the dead and wounded afterwards.

You would think the side left on the field would make an effort to tabulate enemy losses. The information could be used as propaganda to demoralize their foe like the infamous body counts in Nam.

 

[civilken]

Well I went Through the entire page to say yes.

 

[Bill Lawrence]

I'm brand new here. Day one, and thank the administrator for approving me. I'd like to start right off by unloading a thing which has been puzzling me for some time: To wit

I'm certainly no scholar, but a long time student of the Civil War. Grew up on the Manassas battlefield, picked up bullets and shells and fragments of shells on our little farm. I read everything I can get my hands on, watch all the documentaries, wander over numerous battlefields trying to picture what it was like. Yet, the more I learn, the more questions I have. After looking at something one way, I turn the telescope around and look at things from the other end. Out of all the big questions I have, here's my biggest.

The only place I can imagine more horrible than a battlefield while the battle is raging, would be the battlefield the next day. A worse nightmare I can't imagine. Then my question. How did anyone ever get out of here alive? I can use any battle, so I'll pick Gettysburg. Using round numbers, maybe 160,000 men participated. When it was over, there were 52,000 casualties. Over 7,000 corpses strewn everywhere. 12,000 missing. That leaves over 30,000 wounded. There are no words to express the horror. And yet————

160,000 minus 52,000 means that after 3 days of the greatest battle ever fought on American soil, well over 100,000 men left without a scratch. With millions of rounds expended, many thousands of cannon shots, over 100,000 men not only survived, but were unhurt. How is this possible? From numbers I've heard, only about one bullet out of a hundred hit anyone. How can there be 99 misses out of every 100 shots fired? Now consider that some men were hit multiple times, some regiments suffered near 80% casualties, how did so many go un hit?



Any thoughts? Bill Lawrence

 

[Tom Elmore]

Don't forget that roughly 15 percent of the armies were in non-combatant roles (or 24,000 out of 160,000). Also, a large amount of ammunition was expended on average to inflict a single wound, which means a lot of lead and iron lies buried on a battlefield.

Back to the original question, there are also a handful of incidental casualties on any given battlefield. I am speaking of secondary injuries, etc. Here are some from Gettysburg that I have recorded:

- A soldier of the 4th Texas was struck in the head from a barrel knocked from the hands of a fellow soldier.
- A soldier of the 2nd South Carolina was injured in the chest by his own weapon that was thrown back by a canister round.
- The Colonel of the 1st Virginia was shot from his horse and fell upon his own sword, which broke his spine.
- Two men were struck by falling tree limbs, presumably broken off by artillery rounds.
- One soldier was hurt by splinters from his own gun stock that was struck by a shell or shell fragment.
- Pieces of stone dislodged from walls and boulders by nearby artillery strikes injured several, including a soldier of the 48th Georgia who had his skull cracked by a rock sheared off by a shell explosion.
- An artilleryman was struck when the barrel of his cannon burst during loading.
- Another artilleryman was injured when his cannon capsized.
- A runaway artillery piece coming downhill on Cemetery Hill crashed into the backs of a line of Federal infantry.
- One Confederate cavalryman was taken out of action when his horse kicked him.
- A Pennsylvania soldier fell into the railroad cut and broke his arm.
- A Connecticut officer absorbed the full impact of a runaway horse; another soldier was disabled when a horse stepped on his foot.
- Two soldiers were injured by a fence rail tossed into the air by an artillery strike, while another was knocked off a rail that was struck by a solid shot.
- Artillerymen and nearby infantrymen were injured or killed whenever an ammunition chest exploded.
- Brigadier General Graham was dazed when his wounded horse pitched him over his head in the Peach Orchard, and he was captured as a result.
- A shell struck and burst on the cartridge box of a New Hampshire Corporal - the cartridges were driven into his body and exploded.
- A soldier of the 157th New York was put out of action by a horse shoe in his face, thrown by his General's horse.
- A Private in the 134th New York was knocked in the head by a sword wielded by his Captain, presumably because he was trying to leave the line.
- A soldier in the 154th New York was injured by falling bricks while passing through town, dislodged by an artillery strike.
- A soldier of the 147th Pennsylvania took a severe fist blow in the face from a fellow soldier who was dreaming in his sleep.
- One Federal cavalryman sprained his wrist when his horse fell into a deep ditch, while another severely injured his back in falling from his horse.
- The surgeon of the Fifth Corps' Artillery Brigade seriously injured his hip in a "collision with an obstacle in the dark."

 

[Northern Light]

One can be on a battlefield and still be out of harms way. Doctors, orderlies, staff officers, wagoners, cooks, etc. are there and counted but not necessarily active in actual combat. As well, on the Union side, the whole Sixth Corps was held in reserve. Hope this helps.

 

[Northern Light]

I also wanted to add to Banker Pawpaw's original question, that missing does not necessarily meant deserted. You may have read of soldiers being "vapourized" by cannon fire, or mutilated beyond recognition; these soldiers would have been listed as "missing" because there was nothing to identify them as Billy or Johnny. Other soldiers may have crawled away to die and not been found after the battle.
Please do not label them all as cowards or deserters. I had a great uncle who was "Missing in Action", in the First World War. His name is on the Vimy Ridge Memorial.

 

[Tom Elmore]

Good point, Northern Light. From my research, missing nearly always means not identified on the battlefield, while deserters were labeled as such. Many of the missing turned up in enemy prison camps, while many also constitute the unknown dead whose bodies (or body parts) were never identified. Perhaps a good percentage of the latter owned their unknown status to the fact that battlefield robbers on both sides plundered the dead and would discard letters and other items on the body that may have served to identify the individual.