- Joined
- Apr 4, 2017
- Location
- Denver, CO
I doubt the numbers generated by the opposing commands were accurate with respect to Wilderness casualties.
The US army engaged had a large number of short termers looking at imminent discharge, and a high number of bounty men. Both were likely to be "wounded" or "missing" with minimal injuries.
In contrast the Confederate army involved had incurred shocking casualty totals at Gettysburg. By the Wilderness they would have been reporting only people confirmed to have died or with crippling industries.
Battlefield counts mattered. But for the US, the fact that the battle was near Fredricksburg and the railheads, meant that triage and early medical care was going to reduce post battle mortality.
From the Wilderness on, Lee virtually never advanced on stationary US artillery. That is evidence that the count of fatalities due to artillery at both Chanc. and Gettysburg had reached extreme levels.
For Grant, after the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania, he began to take tactical control of the Army of the Potomac. He seems to have moved the VI corp out of the trenches, to refit and recover and form the center of his shock troops.
The US army engaged had a large number of short termers looking at imminent discharge, and a high number of bounty men. Both were likely to be "wounded" or "missing" with minimal injuries.
In contrast the Confederate army involved had incurred shocking casualty totals at Gettysburg. By the Wilderness they would have been reporting only people confirmed to have died or with crippling industries.
Battlefield counts mattered. But for the US, the fact that the battle was near Fredricksburg and the railheads, meant that triage and early medical care was going to reduce post battle mortality.
From the Wilderness on, Lee virtually never advanced on stationary US artillery. That is evidence that the count of fatalities due to artillery at both Chanc. and Gettysburg had reached extreme levels.
For Grant, after the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania, he began to take tactical control of the Army of the Potomac. He seems to have moved the VI corp out of the trenches, to refit and recover and form the center of his shock troops.
Bringing the