Death and the Civil War | DLG Civil War Resources

Stiles/Akin

Sergeant Major
Joined
Apr 1, 2016
Location
Atlanta, Georgia

Before the war began, there were no formal procedures established to identify soldiers killed in the line of duty, or to notify their next of kin. The problem was staggering–approximately half of the men who lost their lives in battle during the Civil War were never identified. Approximately 120,000 Georgians served the Confederacy during the Civil War; 11,000 to 25,000 of these soldiers died on battlefields, or in hospitals from wounds and disease. Although most of the casualties were Confederate soldiers, there were also a significant number of Union soldiers who died in Georgia. Because so many of these men were unidentified and because the staggering death toll overwhelmed local resources, many of these soldiers were buried in mass graves adjacent to their last battle sites.
 
We have become accustomed to having the remains of our soldiers identified and returned to families for burial, but this is a relatively new development. As late as WW1 little effort was made to identify soldier's remains.
 
"approximately half of the men who lost their lives in battle during the Civil War were never identified. "

Imagine the opportunities to re-invent oneself, particularly at the end of the war when the West was opening up.
 
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