Balance Sheet
1. ENLISTMENTS (Estimates) 1861-65
North - 2,000,000 to 2,775,000+ (multiple enlistments occurred).
South - 600,000 to 1,400,000 (multiple enlistments occurred).
2. MILITARY ACTIONS 1861-65
10,400+, including 29 campaigns, 76 full-scale battles, and 310+ major engagements.
3. MILITARY ACTIONS BY LEADING STATES
Virginia - 2150+
Tennessee - 1460+
Missouri - 1160+
Mississippi - 770+
Arkansas - 770+
West Virginia - 630+
Louisiana - 565+
Georgia - 545+
Kentucky - 450+
Alabama - 335+
North Carolina - 310+
South Carolina - 235+
Maryland - 200+
Florida - 165+
Texas - 90
Indian Territory -85+
California -85+
New Mexico Territory -75
4. PEAK MILITARY STRENGTH
North - 1,000,516 (May 1865).
South - 304,015 (Jan 1863).
5. PEAK NAVAL STRENGTH
North - 51,500 sailors and 471 ships.
South (estimate) - up to 500 ships, many small coastal-waters vessels.
6. BATTLE CASUALTIES (Estimates)
North - 111,900+ deaths; 277,400+ wounded.
South - 94,000 deaths; 194,000+ wounded.
7. DISEASE AND PRISON CASUALTIES (Estimates)
North - 224,580+ to disease; 30,190+ prisoners.
South - 164,000 to disease; 31,000+ prisoners.
8. PRISONERS OF WAR (Estimates)
North - 211,400+ taken prisoner (16,600+ paroled).
South - 462,600+ taken prisoner (247,700+ paroled).
9. TOTAL CASUALTIES (Estimates) 1861-65
North - 644,000+
South - 483,000+
Total - 1,127,000 (excluding repatriated prisoners).
THE REGIMENT - The standard military unit during the Civil War was the regiment. Although effective (actual) strength and the rank of the commanding officer often varied, both Federal and Confederate regulations called for an infantry regiment of similar composition. The regiment, normally commanded by a colonel (COL) with a staff of 14 officers and noncommissioned officers, was comprised of 10 infantry companies totaling 845 to 1010 officers and men. Each company was commanded by a captain (CPT) and usually included 3 officers, 5 sergeants (SGT), 8 corporals (CPL), and 82+ privates (PVT) - a total strength of about 100 men or approximately one-half the complement of a modern infantry company.
CIVIL WAR WEAPONS, TACTICS, AND INNOVATIONS - Weapons, tactics, and innovations Introduced and I or perfected during the Civil War include: rifled guns, breech-loading rifles and carbines (Sharps, Spencer, Henry, and Remington), metallic cartridges for revolvers and rifles, rifled cannon (Parrott, Brooke, Armstrong, and Whitworth), heavy smoothbore columbiad cannon (Dahlgren and Rodman), mountain howitzers, armor piercing shot, canister shot, high explosive and fused shells, machine guns (Gatling), land mines, torpedoes (sea mines), electrically fired mines, telegraphic artillery fire. defensive wire, submarines, ironclad warships, turreted ironclads, steam-powered warships, river gunboats, military railroads, rapid rail transport to battlefronts, observation balloons, military telegraphy (field telegraph), army signal corps, expanded cavalry arm, large pontoon bridges, extensive trench and siege lines, military conscription (the draft), recruitment of black regiments, national income tax (to finance war), standardized insignia (medals, decorations, and badges), concentrated or condensed foodstuffs and rations, civilian sanitary commission (assist military medical corps), military retirement systems, army ambulance corps, female nurses, large field hospitals, the Morrill Act (required teaching of military tactics at land grant colleges), and national cemeteries.
Note: Enlistment and casualty statistics are in most cases educated estimates. Inaccurate, incomplete, and missing data (especially for Confederate totals) have made exact figures in most categories impossible to report.
Sources:
Atlas for the American Civil War, The West Point Military History Series, 1986.
Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era, by James M. McPherson. 1988.
Battlefields of the Civil War, by Roger W. Hicks and Frances E. Schultz. 1989.
The Centennial History of the Civil War, 3 Vols., by Bruce Catton. 1961-65.
The Civil War (Series), Editors of Time-Life Books. 1983.
The Civil War: A Narrative, 3 Vols., by Shelby Foote. 1958-1974.
The Civil War: An Illustrated History, by Geoffrey C. Ward with Ric Burns and Ken Burns. 1990.
The Civil War Battlefield Guide, Ed. by Frances H. Kennedy. 1990.
The Civil War Day by Day: An Almanac, by E.B. Long with Barbara Long. 1971.
The Encyclopedia of Military History, Second Rev. Ed., by R. Ernest Dupuy and Trevor N. Dupuy. 1986.
West Point Atlas of American Wars, Vol. I, Ed. by Vincent J. Esposito. 1959.
Who Was Who in the Civil War, by Stewart Sifakis. 1988.
Photographs courtesy of The Generals of the American Civil War Website.