Regimental Losses in the American Civil War, 1861-1865

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Regimental Losses in the American Civil War

  • A treatise on the extent and nature of the mortuary losses in the Union regiments, with full and exhaustive statistics compiled from the official records on file in the state military bureaus and at Washington
  • William Freeman Fox
  • By William F. Fox, Lt. Col., U.S. V.
  • President Of The Society Of The Twelfth Army Corps; Late President Of The 10th N.Y. Veteran Volunteers' Association; And Member Of The New York Historical Society.
  • Albany, N.Y., Albany Publishing Company, 1889
  • COPYRIGHT BY WILLIAM F. FOX 1889
  • RANDOW PRINTING COMPANY, ALBANY, N.Y.

Introduction

There has been a dearth of official information regarding a certain class of regimental statistics which are essential to the history of the war, and are of interest, not only to the surviving participants, but to all who are interested in the story. Regimental affairs are of more importance to the average soldier than Corps or Army matters; and, so, an effort has been made to supply within these pages certain facts regarding regimental losses which are outside the province of the Government publications.

It is with pleasure that acknowledgment is made of courtesies extended by the Adjutant-Generals of the various State Military Bureaus, and the Adjutant-General's office at Washington. Without their kindly assistance the work could not have been completed.

No statistics are given here that are not warranted by the official records. The work represents the patient and conscientious labor of years. Days, and often weeks, have been spent on the figures of each regiment. It is hoped that before disputing any essential fact, a like careful examination of the records will be made. Having done that, if any fail to reconcile facts and statements, they will confer a favor by addressing a communication on the matter, so that an opportunity may be afforded to explain the seeming discrepancy, or, if an error, to correct it in a subsequent edition.

THE AUTHOR. ALBANY, N.Y., May 1, 1888.

Chapter 1

THE CASUALTIES OF WAR — MAXIMUM OF KILLED IN UNION REGIMENTS — MAXIMUM OF PERCENTAGES

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WARS and battles are considered great in proportion to the loss of life resulting from them. Bloodless battles excite no interest. A campaign of manoeuvres is accorded but a small place in history. There have been battles as decisive as Waterloo and Gettysburg, but they cost few lives and never became historic. Great as were the results, Waterloo and Gettysburg would receive but little mention were it not for the terrible cost at which the results were obtained.

Still, it is difficult to comprehend fully what is implied by the figures which represent the loss of life in a great battle or a war. As the numbers become great, they convey no different idea, whether they be doubled or trebled. It is only when the losses are considered in detail— by regiments, for instance— that they can be definitely understood. The regiment is the unit of organization. It is to the army what a family is to the city. It has a well known limit of size, and its losses are intelligible; just as a loss in a family can be understood, while the greater figures of the city's mortuary statistics leave no impression on the mind.

The history of a battle or a war should always be studied in connection with the figures which show the losses. By overlooking them an indefinite, and often erroneous, idea is obtained. By neglecting them, many historians fail to develop the important points of the contest. They use the same rhetorical description for different attacks, whether the pressure was strong or weak; the loss, great or small; the fight, bloody or harmless.

To properly understand the relative importance of the various movements on a battle field, the student must know the loss of life at the different points of the line. He will then see where the points of contact really were; where the pressure was greatest; where the scenes of valor and heroism occurred. There is no better way of doing this than by noting the place in the line held by the various regiments and ascertaining the loss of life in each.

There were over two thousand regiments in the Union Armies. On some of these the brunt of battle fell much heavier than on others. While some were exempted from the dangers of active service, others were continually at the front. While some were seldom called upon to face the enemy's fire, others were repeatedly ordered into the thickest of the fight. While in some regiments the number of killed was small, in others the Roll of Honor was unequaled in the records of modern wars. Who were these men who fought so well in defense of their flag? What were the names and numbers of their regiments? What were the losses in these regiments? What limit is there to the tell of blood exacted from a regimental thousand during a long and bloody war?

The one regiment, in all the Union Armies, which sustained the greatest loss in battle, during the American Civil War, was the Fifth New Hampshire Infantry.[1] It lost 295 men, killed or mortally wounded in action, during its four years of service, from 1861 to 1865. It served in the First Division, Second Corps. This division was commanded, successively, by Generals Richardson, Hancock, Caldwell, Barlow, and Miles; and any regiment that followed the fortunes of these men was sure to find plenty of bloody work cut out for it. The losses of the Fifth New Hampshire occurred entirely in aggressive, hard, stand-up fighting; none of it happened in routs or through blunders. Its loss includes eighteen officers killed, a number far in excess of the usual proportion, and indicates that the men were bravely led. Its percentage of killed is also very large, especially as based on the original enrollment. The exact percentage of the total enrollment cannot be definitely ascertained, as the rolls were loaded down in 1864 with the names of a large number of conscripts and bounty men who never joined the regiment.

The second highest in the list of infantry regiments having the greatest number killed in battle, is the Eighty-third Pennsylvania, which lost 282 officers and men who died while fighting for the Union. This was a Fifth Corps regiment, serving in Morell's— afterwards Griffin's— First Division. Two of its Colonels were killed, and a third was badly wounded and crippled for life. It was a splendid regiment, well officered and well drilled. It suffered a severe loss in killed, by percentage, as well as in numbers.

The next regiment on the list is the Seventh Wisconsin Infantry, of the famous Iron Brigade, Wadsworth's (First) Division, First Corps. This gallant regiment stands high in the list, because of its many battles and the persistency with which it would hold its ground in the face of the deadliest musketry. By glancing at the table of percentages, it will be seen that the Seventh occupies an honorable place in that list also.

Next, among the regiments sustaining the greatest loss in action, stands the Fifth Michigan, of the Third Corps, in which 263 were killed; and next, comes the Twentieth Massachusetts, of the Second Corps, with a credit of 260 killed in battle.

The following table will show clearly the relative position of the leading infantry regiments in point of numerical loss. It embraces every infantry regiment in the Union Armies which lost over 200 men, killed or mortally wounded in action, during the war. In all, there are forty-five:

KILLED OR DIED OF WOUNDS - UNION INFANTRY REGIMENTS
Regiment Division Corps Officers Men Total
5th New Hampshire Infantry Barlow's Second 18 277 295
83rd Pennsylvania Infantry Griffin's Fifth 11 271 282
7th Wisconsin Infantry Wadsworth's First 10 271 281
5th Michigan Infantry Birney's Third 16 247 263
20th Massachusetts Infantry Gibbon's Second 17 243 260
69th New York Infantry Barlow's Second 13 246 259
28th Massachusetts Infantry Barlow's Second 15 235 250
16th Michigan Infantry Griffin's Fifth 12 235 247
105th Pennsylvania Infantry Birney's Third 14 231 245
6th Wisconsin Infantry Wadsworth's First 15 229 244
15th Massachusetts Infantry Gibbon's Second 14 227 241
15th New Jersey Infantry Wright's Sixth 8 230 240
2nd Wisconsin Infantry Wadsworth's First 10 228 238
40th New York Infantry Birney's Third 9 229 238
61st Pennsylvania Infantry Getty's Sixth 19 218 237
(II) 11th Pennsylvania Infantry Robinson's First 12 224 236
48th New York Infantry Terry's Tenth 18 218 236
45th Pennsylvania Infantry Potter's Ninth 13 214 227
121st New York Infantry Wright's Sixth 13 213 226
27th Michigan Infantry Willcox's Ninth 10 215 225
2nd Michigan Infantry Willcox's Ninth 11 214 225
100th Pennsylvania Infantry Stevenson's Ninth 16 208 224
8th Michigan Infantry Willcox's Ninth 11 212 223
2nd Vermont Infantry Getty's Sixth 6 215 221
111th New York Infantry Hays's(Alex.) Second 8 212 220
18th United States Infantry Johnson's Fourteenth 9 209 218
(II) 9th Illinois Infantry Dodge's Sixteenth 5 211 216
22nd Massachusetts Infantry Griffin's Fifth 9 207 216
5th Vermont Infantry Getty's Sixth 11 202 213
148th Pennsylvania Infantry Barlow's Second 12 198 210
9th Massachusetts Infantry Griffin's Fifth 15 194 209
81st Pennsylvania Infantry Barlow's Second 18 190 208
7th Michigan Infantry Gibbon's Second 11 197 208
55th Pennsylvania Infantry Ames's Tenth 7 201 208
17th Maine Infantry Birney's Third 12 195 207
3rd Vermont Infantry Getty's Sixth 5 201 206
145th Pennsylvania Infantry Barlow's Second 18 187 205
14th Connecticut Infantry Gibbon's Second 17 188 205
36th Illinois Infantry Sheridan's Fourth 11 193 204
6th Vermont Infantry Getty's Sixth 12 191 203
49th Ohio Infantry Wood's (Thos. J.) Fourth 14 188 202
51st New York Infantry Potter's Ninth 9 193 202
20th Indiana Infantry Birney's Third 14 187 201
57th Massachusetts Infantry Stevenson's Ninth 10 191 201
53rd Pennsylvania Infantry Barlow's Second 5 195 200

It may be of interest to state here that on the records of the War Department some of these regiments are not credited with quite so many men killed; and, that if a tabulation were to be made from the official figures at Washington, the relative positions of some of these regiments would have to be slightly changed. In the first five regiments the Seventh Wisconsin would head the list, and the Fifth New Hampshire would stand third instead of first; while the Eighty-third Pennsylvania, the Fifth Michigan and the Twentieth Massachusetts would still hold, respectively, the second, fourth and fifth places, as before. The records of the War Department show as follows:

War Department Rolls
7th Wisconsin Infantry 280 killed or died of wounds.
83rd Pennsylvania Infantry 278 killed or died of wounds.
5th New Hampshire Infantry 277 killed or died of wounds.
5th Michigan Infantry 262 killed or died of wounds.
20th Massachusetts Infantry 257 killed or died of wounds.

This difference arises from the fact that in each regiment there were men borne on the muster-out rolls as "missing in action," whose fate had not been determined at the close of the war, at which time these rolls were made out. But, since then, many of the States have made strenuous efforts to ascertain the fate of these men. New Hampshire, for instance, published a supplement to its printed muster-out rolls, in which it accounts definitely for most of its missing, the State Adjutant-General having obtained, from various sources, satisfactory evidence that these men were killed. But the War Department declines — and very properly — to account for missing men as killed until they receive official information to that effect. The official channels, through which such information must come, are the original records of the muster-out rolls; the final statements, as they are technically termed; and the affidavits which may accompany a pension claim.

Now, the State of New Hampshire, and other States as well, have ascertained definitely that many of their missing men were killed, and have revised their records accordingly;[2] but, if these missing men have no heirs to prosecute their claims at the Pension Office, the records at Washington will remain unchanged, and the men will still be recorded there, not among the killed, but as missing. The mortuary statistics in these pages are compiled largely from State records; hence, the figures in many cases will exceed those of the War Office. The variation, however, is not important enough to warrant this digression were it not for the honest endeavor to arrive at exactness, and to forestall any possible misunderstanding or controversy.

In treating here of the matter of losses in battle, or otherwise, each regiment will be considered by itself. Hence, it is important that the student before going further should understand thoroughly the size and formation of a regiment, in order to comprehend the extent and nature of the loss. Otherwise, the figures would have little or no meaning.

The infantry regiments, which formed the bulk of the army, had a maximum of organization beyond which recruiting was not allowed. There was, also, a minimum of strength which must be obtained before a regiment could be accepted. An infantry command consisted of ten companies of foot, and the Field and Staff: the latter were mounted, and consisted of the Colonel and such officers as were not attached to the company formations. The maximum formation was as follows;

Maximum Regiment/Company Formations
Field and Staff Company Formation
1 Colonel 1 Captain
1 Lieutenant Colonel 1 First Lieutenant
1 Major 1 Second Lieutenant
1 Adjutant 1 First Sergeant
1 Quartermaster 4 Sergeants
1 Surgeon (Rank of Major) 8 Corporals
2 Asst. Surgeons 2 Musicians
1 Chaplain 1 Wagoner
1 Sergeant-Major 82 Privates
1 Quartermaster's Sergeant .................
1 Commissary-Sergeant .................
1 Hospital Steward .................
2 Principal Musicians .................
15 101
Ten companies, 101 each 1010
Field and Staff 15
Total 1025

In the minimum organization the formation, and number of officers, was the same; but the number of privates was placed at 64, making the total of the minimum, 845. The newly recruited regiments, accordingly, ranged in numbers from 845 to 1025. The most of them left their rendezvous with full ranks, especially those which were raised under the second call for troops, in 186~. As their numbers became reduced by disease and wounds, fresh recruits were added, so that the total enrollment of a regiment was often increased several hundred before its term of service expired. Nominally, an infantry regiment consisted of one thousand men, less the depletion incidental to its service, the actual number of effectives being far below the nominal one.

In addition to the infantry, there were 32 regiments of heavy artillery in the volunteer service. It would be unnecessary to mention these were it not that the heaviest loss in battle, of any regimental organization, occurred in two of these regiments, each of which lost more men killed than the Fifth New Hampshire. But, owing to their larger organization and different formation. they must be considered secondly, and in a class by themselves. A regiment of heavy artillery contained 1800 men, divided into 12 companies of 150; attached to each company were five line officers — a captain and four lieutenants. The regiment was divided into three battalions of four companies, with each battalion under the command of a Major. There was but one Colonel and one Lt. Colonel, as in infantry. These troops performed garrison duty, serving mostly within the fortifications around Washington, or in the coast defences where heavy ordnance was used. In the spring of 1864, most of the heavy artillery regiments within the defences of Washington were ordered to the front, where they served as infantry, and took an active part in the campaign.

The heaviest loss in this arm of the service — and, also, in any regiment of the army — occurred in the First Maine Heavy Artillery, of Birney's Division, Second Corps. During its term of service it lost 23 officers and 400 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded in battle. This regiment is remarkable, also, for its large percentage of loss; for the large number of officers killed; and, for having sustained in a certain engagement the greatest loss of any regiment in any one battle. The First Maine H.A. did not take the field until May, 1864, having served the two previous years in the fortifications of Washington. Its fighting and all its losses occurred within a period of ten months.

The next greatest loss in the heavy artillery is found in the Eighth New York, of Gibbon's Division, Second Corps, in which regiment 19 officers and 342 enlisted men were killed or died of wounds during their three years' term of service. Like the First Maine, it did not go to the front nor see any fighting until the last year of its service, all its losses occurring during the last ten months of the war.

The following list embraces all the heavy artillery regiments in which the number of killed, or died of wounds, exceeded two hundred:

KILLED OR DIED OF WOUNDS - UNION HEAVY ARTILLERY REGIMENTS
Regiment Division Corps Officers Men Total
1st Maine Heavy Artillery Birney's Second 23 00 423
8th New York Heavy Artillery Gibbon's Second 19 342 361
7th New York Heavy Artillery Barlow's Second 14 277 291
2nd Connecticut Heavy Artillery Wright's Sixth 12 242 254
1st Massachusetts Heavy Artillery Birney's Second 9 232 241
2nd Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery Ferrero's Ninth 5 228 233
14th New York Heavy Artillery Ferrero's Ninth 6 220 226
2nd New York Heavy Artillery Barlow's Second 10 204 214
9th New York Heavy Artillery Ricketts's Sixth 6 198 204

The Second Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery carried, from first to last, over 5000 names on its rolls. In fact, it comprised two regiments — one in the Ninth, and one in the Eighteenth Corps. In the spring of 1864, the regiment, 1800 strong, joined the Second Division of the Eighteenth Corps, at Cold Harbor. The surplus men had been previously formed into a "provisional" regiment with the same designation, and assigned to the Ninth Corps. The most of the losses occurred in this provisional command.

A cavalry regiment numbered 1200 men, nominally, and was divided into twelve companies of one hundred each. They did not suffer such severe losses in particular engagements as did the infantry, but their losses were divided among a great many more battles. The cavalry went into action very much oftener than infantry. Although mounted and armed with sabres, much of their fighting was done dismounted, and with carbines. The mounted regiments which lost the most men, killed or fatally wounded in action, were the following:

KILLED OR DIED OF WOUNDS - UNION CAVALRY REGIMENTS
Regiment Division Corps Officers Men Total
1st Maine Cavalry Gregg's Cavalry, A.P. 15 159 174
1st Michigan Cavalry Kilpatrick's Cavalry, A.P. 14 150 164
5th Michigan Cavalry Kilpatrick's Cavalry, A.P. 6 135 141
6th Michigan Cavalry Kilpatrick's Cavalry, A.P. 7 128 135
1st Vermont Cavalry Kilpatrick's Cavalry, A.P. 10 124 134
1st New York Dragoons Torbert's Cavalry, A.P. 4 126 130
1st New Jersey Cavalry Gregg's Cavalry, A.P. 12 116 128
2nd New York Cavalry Wilson's Cavalry, A.P. 9 112 121
11th Pennsylvania Cavalry Kautz's Cavalry, A.P. 11 108 119

The light artillery was composed of batteries with a maximum strength of 150 men and six guns. Before the war closed many of them were reorganized as four-gun batteries. In some cases there were regimental organizations comprising 12 batteries, but most of the troops in this arm of the service were independent commands; even where there was a regimental organization, each battery acted separately and independently of the others. In the volunteer service the leading batteries, in point of loss in battle, were as follows:

KILLED OR DIED OF WOUNDS - UNION LIGHT ARTILLERY REGIMENTS
Synonym Battery Corps Officers Men Total
"Cooper's" 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery / Battery B First 2 19 21
"Sands'" 11th Ohio (Independent) Light Artillery Battery Seventeenth -- 20 20
"Phillips'" 5th Massachusetts Light Artillery Battery Fifth 1 18 19
"Weeden's" 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery / Battery C Fifth -- 19 19
"Cowan's" 1st New York (Independent) Light Artillery Battery Sixth 2 16 18
"Stevens'" 5th Maine Light Artillery Battery ("Battery E") First 2 16 18
"Ricketts'" 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery / Battery F First 1 17 18
"Easton's" 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery / Battery A First 1 16 17
"Kern's" 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery / Battery G First 1 16 17
"Randolph's" 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery / Battery E Third -- 17 17
"Pettit's" 1st New York Light Artillery / Battery B Second -- 16 16
"Bigelow's" 9th Massachusetts Light Artillery Battery Reserve Art'y 2 13 15
"Bradbury's" 1st Maine Light Artillery Battery ("Battery A") Nineteenth 2 13 15
"Wood's" 1st Illinois Light Artillery / Battery A Fifteenth -- 15 15

The loss in the Eleventh Ohio Battery occurred almost entirely in one action, 19 of its men having been killed or mortally wounded at Iuka in a charge on the battery. In the other batteries, however, the losses represent a long series of battles in which they rendered effective service, and participated with honor to themselves and the arm of the service to which they belonged.

Among the light batteries of the Regular Army, equally heavy losses occurred in the following famous commands:

KILLED OR DIED OF WOUNDS - UNION REGULAR LIGHT ARTILLERY COMMANDS
Unit Synonyms
4th United States Artillery / Battery B "Gibbon's" / "Stewart's"
4th United States Artillery / Battery K "DeRussey's" / "Seeley's"
1st United States Artillery / Battery I "Ricketts'" / "Kirby's" / "Woodruff's"
5th United States Artillery / Battery D "Griffin's" " "Hazlitt's"
5th United States Artillery / Battery C "Seymour's" / "Ransom's" / "Weir's"
5th United States Artillery / Battery H "Gunther's" " "Burnham's."
4th United States Artillery / Battery A and

Battery C

"Hazzard's" / "Cushing's" / "Thomas'"

The foregoing pages show accurately the limit of loss in the various regimental organizations in the civil war. The figures will probably fall below the prevalent idea as to the number killed in certain regiments; but these figures are the only ones that the muster-out rolls will warrant, and no others can be accepted. True, there are many errors in the rolls, but they have been thoroughly revised and corrected.

There have been too many careless, extravagant statements made regarding losses in action. Officers have claimed losses for their regiments, which are sadly at variance with the records which they certified as correct at the close of the war— muster-out rolls which they made out themselves, and on which they accounted for each man in their command. If any veteran is surprised at the figures given here and feels disposed to question their accuracy, let him first carefully examine the muster-out rolls of his regiment. It will not be necessary to exaggerate the result. To the thoughtful, the truth will be sensational enough: the correct figures are amply heroic, and are unsurpassed in the annals of war.

The number of men killed in a regiment during its term of service has thus far been considered only in respect to the maximum of loss, and the result is of value only so far as it defines the limit of casualties to which regiments of this size are exposed. But, though similar in formation, the regiments varied in numbers according to the recruits or transferred men received. Some regiments received large numbers of recruits to make good their losses, while other commands went through the war with constantly lessening ranks and carried only the original thousand, or less, upon their rolls. Some regiments which reenlisted at the end of their three years' term received large accessions from other commands which, returning home, left detachments in the field composed of recruits with unexpired terms, or reenlisted men. Distinction must be made, in the matter of losses in action, between the regiments whose ranks were always kept full, and the ones which received no fresh material.

In short, the proper way to judge of the relative losses of regiments during their term of service is to accompany the statement of the losses with the figures of the total enrollment, and compare the percentages as well as the losses. The regiments in the following list Call fairly claim the honor of having encountered the hardest fighting in the war. They may not have done the most effective fighting, nor the best fighting; but they evidently stood where the danger was thickest, and were the ones which faced the hottest musketry. They were all well-known, reliable commands, and served with unblemished records. The maximum of loss is reached in this table:

KILLED OR DIED OF WOUNDS - MAXIMUM PERCENTAGE OF ENROLLMENT
Regiment Division (*) Corps Enrolled Killed Percentage
2nd Wisconsin Infantry Wadsworth's First 1203 238 19.7
1st Maine Heavy Artillery Birney's Second 2202 423 19.2
57th Massachusetts Infantry Stevenson's Ninth 1052 201 19.1
140th Pennsylvania Infantry Barlow's Second 1132 198 17.4
26th Wisconsin Infantry Schurz's Eleventh 1089 188 17.2
7th Wisconsin Infantry Wadsworth's First 1630 281 17.2
69th New York Infantry Hancock's Second 1513 259 17.1
11th Pennsylvania (Reserve) Infantry Crawford's Fifth 1179 196 16.6
142nd Pennsylvania Infantry Doubleday's First 935 155 16.5
141st Pennsylvania Infantry Birney's Third 1037 167 16.l
19th Indiana Infantry Wadsworth's First 1246 199 15.9
121st New York Infantry Wright's Sixth 1426 226 15.8
7th Michigan Infantry Gibbon's Second 1315 208 15.8
148th Pennsylvania Infantry Barlow's Second 1339 210 15.6
83rd Pennsylvania Infantry Griffin's Fifth 1808 282 15.5
22nd Massachusetts Infantry Griffin's Fifth 1393 216 15.5
36th Wisconsin Infantry Gibbon's Second 1014 157 15.4
27th Indiana Infantry Williams's Twelfth 1101 169 15.3
5th Kentucky Infantry (U) T.J. Wood's Fourth 1020 157 15.3
27th Michigan Infantry Willcox's Ninth 1485 225 15.1
(II) 79th United States (Colored) Infantry Thayer's Seventh 1249 188 15.0
17th Maine Infantry Birney's Third 1371 207 15.0
1st Minnesota Infantry Gibbon's Second 1242 187 15.0

(*) Most regiments served under more than one division commander, and some of them in more than one corps. For lack of space, mention is made here only of the division which will best assist the reader in identifying the regiment and its campaigns.

The loss in the Second Wisconsin indicates the extreme limit of danger to which human life is exposed in a war similar in duration and activity to the American Civil War. It shows the chances which a man takes when he enlists. The figures, however, are the result of the weapons and mode of fighting of twenty years ago. Since then, muzzle-loading rifles have been dispensed with. Still, in the Franco-Prussian war, in which the troops were armed with breech-loaders, there was no increase in the percentage of casualties. In fact, the old muzzle-loaders were capable of delivering a hotter fire than any body of troops could withstand. At Marye's Heights and Cemetery Ridge, the bravest of assaulting columns recoiled from their fire; breech-loaders could have done no more. There was a limit of punishment beyond which endurance would not go, and the old Springfield rifle was capable of inflicting it.

But the figures of the Second Wisconsin, and of the other regiments as well, fail to show the full percentage of loss: the actual percentage was much larger. The figures given are based upon the total enrollment of the regiment, and necessarily include the non-combatants — the musicians, teamsters, company cooks, officers' servants, Surgeon's assistants, and Quartermaster's men; also, the sick, the detailed men, and absentees of all kinds. If the percentage were based on the number of men who were accustomed to follow the colors into action, the figures would be still more startling. But there is no place to draw a dividing line, and so the total enrollment must be taken. As all regiments were pretty much alike in respect to the number of non-combatants, it shows fairly their relative positions in point of loss.

These figures, let it be remembered, include only the killed and mortally wounded. To understand their full significance, one must bear in mind the additional loss of wounded men who survived their injuries— many of them surviving only to drag their marred and crippled lives along a lower plane of existence. In the Second Wisconsin nearly 900 men were killed or wounded, leaving but few unharmed of those who carried arms. In stating the total enrollment of a regiment, the statistician is often in doubt as to what figures may be fairly used. In the Second Wisconsin there were two companies K. The first one remained with the regiment but a few weeks and was then permanently detached. Its place was taken by another company which was recruited in October, 1861. It would, manifestly, be unfair to include both companies in the enrollment, and so the first was not counted. Yet, the first company K was with the regiment in the battle of First Bull Run, and lost in that action one man killed and two missing. As this loss is included in the figures given for the Second Wisconsin, absolute accuracy would demand their subtraction before calculating the percentage. The regiment would, however, still remain at the head of the list in the table of percentages.

In the case of the First Maine Heavy Artillery a careful discrimination was also necessary. The enrollment given here includes the original regiment, together with all recruits received prior to the close of the war. But, in June, 1865 — two mouths after the war had closed — the regiment received a large accession from the Seventeenth and Nineteenth Maine Infantry. These latter commands had been mustered out, upon which the recruits with unexpired terms of service were transferred to the First Maine Heavy Artillery. These men — transferred after the war had ended — are not included in the enrollment, as they formed no part of the body under consideration in the matter of percentage of loss. Their number had already entered into the calculation of the regiments in which they had previously served. A careful examination of the rolls of the First Maine Heavy Artillery, name by name, shows that 2202 men only were enrolled prior to the surrender at Appomattox.

A similar case is found in the Fifty-seventh Massachusetts, which carried 1052 names, officers and enlisted men, on its rolls up to the close of the war. On the 9th of August, 1865-four months after the fighting had ceased— its rolls were increased by a transfer of the <fx_10>Fifty-ninth Massachusetts, which was consolidated with it. The names thus added were not included in the enrollment under consideration. In the following table will be found every regiment in which the loss in killed and died of wounds exceeded ten per cent. of the total enrollment:

KILLED OR DIED OF WOUNDS - ENTIRE SERVICE OF REGIMENT
Regiment Division (*) Corps Enrolled Killed Percentage
2nd Connecticut Heavy Artillery Wright's Sixth 2506 254 10.1
7th Connecticut Infantry Terry's Tenth 1657 169 10.1
14th Connecticut Infantry Gibbon's Second 1724 205 11.8
(II) 9th Illinois Infantry Dodge's Sixteenth 1493 216 14.4
(II) 12th Illinois Infantry Dodge's Sixteenth 1207 148 12.2
20th Illinois Infantry Logan's Seventeenth 1092 139 12.7
22nd Illinois Infantry Sheridan's Fourth 1123 147 13.0
27th Illinois Infantry Sheridan's Fourth 1078 115 10.6
35th Illinois Infantry T.J. Wood's Fourth 987 109 11.0
36th Illinois Infantry Sheridan's Fourth 1376 204 14.8
40th Illinois Infantry C.R. Woods' Fifteenth 1017 125 12.2
41st Illinois Infantry Lauman's Sixteenth 1029 115 11.1
42nd Illinois Infantry Sheridan's Fourth 1622 181 11.1
44th Illinois Infantry Sheridan's Fourth 1344 135 10.0
55th Illinois Infantry Blair's Fifteenth 1099 157 14.2
73rd Illinois Infantry Sheridan's Fourth 994 114 11.4
82nd Illinois Infantry Schurz's Eleventh 956 102 10.6
84th Illinois Infantry Stanley's Fourth 987 124 12.5
88th Illinois Infantry Sheridan's Fourth 926 103 11.1
89th Illinois Infantry T.J. Wood's Fourth 1318 133 10.0
93rd Illinois Infantry Quinby's Seventeenth 1011 151 14.9
104th Illinois Infantry Carlin's Fourteenth 999 116 11.6
(II) 6th Indiana Infantry T.J. Wood's Fourth 1091 125 11.4
14th Indiana Infantry French's Second 1134 150 13.2
19th Indiana Infantry Wadsworth's First 1246 199 15.9
20th Indiana Infantry Birney's Third 1403 201 14.3
27th Indiana Infantry Williams's Twelfth 1101 169 15.3
30th Indiana Infantry Stanley's Fourth 1126 137 12.1
32nd Indiana Infantry T.J. Wood's Fourth 1283 171 13.3
36th Indiana Infantry Stanley's Fourth 1118 113 10.1
40th Indiana Infantry Newton's Fourth 1473 148 10.0
3rd Iowa Infantry Lauman's Sixteenth 1099 127 11.5
5th Iowa Infantry Quinby's Seventeenth 1042 117 11.2
6th Iowa Infantry Corse's Sixteenth 1102 152 13.7
9th Iowa Infantry C.R. Woods's Fifteenth 1229 154 12.5
13th Iowa Infantry McArthur's Seventeenth 1118 119 10.7
22nd Iowa Infantry Grover's Nineteenth 1067 114 10.6
24th Iowa Infantry Grover's Nineteenth 1207 128 10.6
3rd Kentucky Infantry (U) Newton's Fourth 1035 109 10.5
5th Kentucky Infantry (U) T.J. Wood's Fourth 1020 157 15.3
6th Kentucky Infantry (U) T.J. Wood's Fourth 960 115 11.9
15th Kentucky Infantry (U) Johnson's Fourteenth 956 137 14.3
1st Maine Heavy Artillery Birney's Second 2202 428 19.2
4th Maine Infantry Birney's Third 1440 170 11.8
6th Maine Infantry Wright's Sixth 1213 153 12.6
7th Maine Infantry Getty's Sixth 1505 152 10.0
17th Maine Infantry Birney's Third 1371 207 15.0
19th Maine Infantry Gibbon's Second 1441 192 13.3
31st Maine Infantry Potter's Ninth 1395 183 13.1
2nd Massachusetts Infantry Williams's Twelfth 1305 187 14.3
9th Massachusetts Infantry Griffin's Fifth 1654 209 12.6
10th Massachusetts Infantry Getty's Sixth 1218 134 11.0
12th Massachusetts Infantry Robinson's First 1522 193 12.6
15th Massachusetts Infantry Gibbon's Second 1701 241 14.1
16th Massachusetts Infantry Humphreys's Third 1335 150 11.2
20th Massachusetts Infantry Gibbon's Second 1978 260 13.l
21st Massachusetts Infantry Stevenson's Ninth 1178 159 13.4
22nd Massachusetts Infantry Griffin's Fifth 1393 216 15.5
25th Massachusetts Infantry Weitzel's Eighteenth 1371 161 11.7
28th Massachusetts Infantry Barlow's Second 1778 250 14.0
34th Massachusetts Infantry Thoburn's Eighth 1309 135 10.3
36th Massachusetts Infantry Potter's Ninth 1073 111 10.3
37th Massachusetts Infantry Getty's Sixth 1324 169 12.7
56th Massachusetts Infantry Stevenson's Ninth 1047 126 12.0
57th Massachusetts Infantry Stevenson's Ninth 1052 201 19.1
58th Massachusetts Infantry Potter's Ninth 1032 139 13.4
1st Michigan Sharpshooters Willcox's Ninth 1101 137 19.4
(II) 1st Michigan Infantry Morell's Fifth 1329 187 14.0
2nd Michigan Infantry Willcox's Ninth 1725 925 18.0
(I) 3rd Michigan Infantry Birney's Third 1238 158 12.7
(II) 4th Michigan Infantry Griffin's Fifth 1325 189 14.2
5th Michigan Infantry Birney's Third 1883 263 13.9
7th Michigan Infantry Gibbon's Second 1315 208 15.8
8th Michigan Infantry Willcox's Ninth 1770 223 12.5
16th Michigan Infantry Griffin's Fifth 1929 247 12.8
17th Michigan Infantry Willcox's Ninth 1137 135 11.8
20th Michigan Infantry Willcox's Ninth 1114 124 11.1
24th Michigan Infantry Wadsworth's First 1654 189 11.4
26th Michigan Infantry Barlow's Second 1210 121 10.0
27th Michigan Infantry Willcox's Ninth 1485 225 15.1
1st Minnesota Infantry Gibbon's Second 1242 187 15.0
10th Missouri Infantry (U) Quinby's Seventeenth 977 101 10.3
11th Missouri Infantry (U) Mower's Sixteenth 945 104 11.0
12th Missouri Infantry (U) Osterhaus's Fifteenth 931 112 12.0
15th Missouri Infantry (U) Newton's Fourth 904 115 12.7
26th Missouri Infantry (U) Quinby's Seventeenth 972 118 12.1
3rd New Hampshire Infantry Terry's Tenth 1725 198 11.4
7th New Hampshire Infantry Terry's Tenth 1718 184 10.7
12th New Hampshire Infantry Humphreys's Third 1450 181 12.4
(II) 1st New Jersey Infantry Wright's Sixth 1324 153 11.5
(II) 3rd New Jersey Infantry Wright's Sixth 1238 157 12.6
14th New Jersey Infantry Ricketts's Sixth 1312 147 11.2
15th New Jersey Infantry Wright's Sixth 1702 240 14.1
(II) 5th New York Infantry Sykes' Fifth 1508 177 11.7
8th New York Heavy Artillery Gibbon's Second 2575 361 14.0
44th New York Infantry Griffin's Fifth 1365 182 13.3
48th New York Infantry Terry's Tenth 2173 236 10.8
49th New York Infantry Getty's Sixth 1312 141 10.7
51st New York Infantry Potter's Ninth 2020 202 10.0
61st New York Infantry Barlow's Second 1526 193 12.6
64th New York Infantry Barlow's Second 1313 173 13.1
69th New York Infantry Barlow's Second 1513 259 17.1
70th New York Infantry Hooker's Third 1226 190 15.4
72nd New York Infantry Hooker's Third 1250 161 12.8
73rd New York Infantry Hooker's Third 1326 156 11.7
76th New York Infantry Wadsworth's First 1491 173 11.6
82nd New York Infantry Gibbon's Second 1452 181 12.4
83rd New York Infantry Robinson's First 1413 156 11.0
84th New York Infantry Wadsworth's First 1365 162 11.8
86th New York Infantry Birney's Third 1524 172 11.2
88th New York Infantry Barlow's Second 1352 151 11.1
100th New York Infantry Terry's Tenth 1491 202 13.5
109th New York Infantry Willcox's Ninth 1353 165 12.1
111th New York Infantry Barlow's Second 1780 220 12.3
114th New York Infantry Dwight's Nineteenth 1134 121 10.6
115th New York Infantry Ames's Tenth 1196 135 11.2
121st New York Infantry Wright's Sixth 1426 226 15.8
124th New York Infantry Birney's Third 1320 148 11.2
126th New York Infantry Barlow's Second 1036 153 14.7
137th New York Infantry Geary's Twelfth 1111 127 11.4
148th New York Infantry Brooks's Eighteenth 1065 116 10.8
149th New York Infantry Geary's Twelfth 1286 133 10.3
155th New York Infantry Gibbon's Second 830 114 13.7
164th New York Infantry Gibbon's Second 928 116 11.4
170th New York Infantry Gibbon's Second 1002 129 12.8
(II) 1st Ohio Infantry T.J. Wood's Fourth 1160 121 10.4
(II) 7th Ohio Infantry Geary's Twelfth 1365 184 13.4
(II) 8th Ohio Infantry Gibbon's Second 1032 132 12.7
(II) 14th Ohio Infantry Brannan's Fourteenth 1404 146 10.3
(II) 15th Ohio Infantry T.J. Wood's Fourth 1654 179 10.5
(II) 21st Ohio Infantry Johnson's Fourteenth 1398 172 12.3
30th Ohio Infantry Blair's Fifteenth 1115 128 11.4
33rd Ohio Infantry Baird's Fourteenth 1284 137 10.6
41st Ohio Infantry T.J. Wood's Fourth 1423 176 12.3
46th Ohio Infantry Hazen's Fifteenth 1111 134 12.0
49th Ohio Infantry T.J. Wood's Fourth 1468 202 13.7
55th Ohio Infantry Steinwehr's Eleventh 1392 143 10.2
65th Ohio Infantry Newton's Fourth 1216 122 10.0
73rd Ohio Infantry Steinwehr's Eleventh 1267 171 13.4
93rd Ohio Infantry T.J. Wood's Fourth 1068 113 10.5
98th Ohio Infantry Davis's Fourteenth 1152 120 10.4
110th Ohio Infantry Ricketts's Sixth 1165 126 10.8
113th Ohio Infantry Davis's Fourteenth 1113 120 10.7
126th Ohio Infantry Ricketts's Sixth 1254 152 12.1
5th Pennsylvania (Reserve) Infantry Crawford's Fifth 1046 141 13.5
6th Pennsylvania (Reserve) Infantry Crawford's Fifth 1059 110 10.3
8th Pennsylvania (Reserve) Infantry Crawford's Fifth l062 158 14.8
9th Pennsylvania (Reserve) Infantry Crawford's Fifth 1088 137 12.5
10th Pennsylvania (Reserve) Infantry Crawford's Fifth 1150 160 13.9
11th Pennsylvania (Reserve) Infantry Crawford's Fifth 1179 196 16.6
13th Pennsylvania (Reserve) Infantry Crawford's Fifth 1165 162 13.9
(II) 11th Pennsylvania Infantry Robinson's First 2052 236 11.5
45th Pennsylvania Infantry Potter's Ninth 1960 227 11.5
46th Pennsylvania Infantry Williams's Twelfth 1794 179 10.0
49th Pennsylvania Infantry Wright's Sixth 1313 193 14.6
55th Pennsylvania Infantry Ames's Tenth 1820 208 11.4
61st Pennsylvania Infantry Getty's Sixth 1987 237 11.9
62nd Pennsylvania Infantry Griffin's Fifth 1571 169 10.7
63rd Pennsylvania Infantry Birney's Third 1341 186 13.8
69th Pennsylvania Infantry Gibbon's Second 1715 178 10.3
72nd Pennsylvania Infantry Gibbon's Second 1596 193 12.9
81st Pennsylvania Infantry Barlow's Second 1608 208 12.9
83rd Pennsylvania Infantry Griffin's Fifth l808 282 15.5
84th Pennsylvania Infantry Humphreys's Third 1241 125 10.0
96th Pennsylvania Infantry Wright's Sixth 1153 132 11.4
100th Pennsylvania Infantry Stevenson's Ninth 2014 224 11.1
105th Pennsylvania Infantry Birney's Third 1992 245 12.2
106th Pennsylvania Infantry Gibbon's Second 1004 104 10.3
118th Pennsylvania Infantry Griffin's Fifth 1276 141 11.0
119th Pennsylvania Infantry Wright's Sixth 1216 141 11.5
121st Pennsylvania Infantry Doubleday's First 891 109 12.2
139th Pennsylvania Infantry Getty's Sixth 1070 145 13.5
140th Pennsylvania Infantry Barlow's Second 1132 198 17.4
141st Pennsylvania Infantry Birney's Third 1037 167 16.1
142nd Pennsylvania Infantry Doubleday's First 935 155 16.5
143rd Pennsylvania Infantry Doubleday's First 1491 151 10.1
145th Pennsylvania Infantry Barlow's Second 1456 205 14.1
148th Pennsylvania Infantry Barlow's Second 1339 210 15.6
149th Pennsylvania Infantry Doubleday's First 1454 169 11.6
184th Pennsylvania Infantry Gibbon's Second 959 113 11.7
188th Pennsylvania Infantry Brooks's Eighteenth 1201 124 10.3
2nd Vermont Infantry Getty's Sixth 1811 224 12.3
3rd Vermont Infantry Getty's Sixth 1748 206 11.7
5th Vermont Infantry Getty's Sixth 1533 213 13.8
6th Vermont Infantry Getty's Sixth 1568 203 12.9
10th Vermont Infantry Ricketts's Sixth 1304 149 11.3
17th Vermont Infantry Potter's Ninth 1137 147 12.9
7th West Virginia Infantry Gibbon's Second 1008 142 14.0
(II) 1st Wisconsin Infantry Baird's Fourteenth 1386 157 11.3
2nd Wisconsin Infantry Wadsworth's First 1203 238 19.7
3rd Wisconsin Infantry Williams's Twelfth 1333 170 12.7
6th Wisconsin Infantry Wadsworth's First 1940 244 12.5
7th Wisconsin Infantry Wadsworth's First 1630 281 17.2
21st Wisconsin Infantry Johnson's Fourteenth 1171 122 10.4
24th Wisconsin Infantry Newton's Fourth l077 111 10.3
26th Wisconsin Infantry Schurz's Eleventh 1089 188 17.2
36th Wisconsin Infantry Gibbon's Second 1014 157 15.4
37th Wisconsin Infantry Willcox's Ninth 1110 156 14.0
1st United States Sharpshooters Birney's Third 1392 153 10.9
2nd United States Sharpshooters Birney's Third 1178 125 10.6
(II) 79th United States (Colored) Infantry Thayer's Seventh 1249 188 15.0

(*) Most regiments served under more than one division commander, and some of them in more than one corps. For lack of space, mention is made here only of the division which will best assist the reader in identifying the regiment and its campaigns.

In some of the regiments of the preceding list, a part of the enrollment has been omitted, and the percentage was calculated on the number enrolled during the period of active service. In some cases deduction was made for large bodies of conscripts which never joined the regiment, although their names were borne upon the rolls; also, for accessions of substitutes and drafted men who did not reach the regiment until the fighting had practically ended. Partial enrollments were used in calculating the percentages of the Second Massachusetts, Third Wisconsin, Twentieth Massachusetts, Seventh West Virginia, Eighty-second New York, and Eighty-third New York.

There were many regiments which would appear in the preceding table of high percentages were it not that their rolls were unduly swelled by useless names; by conscripts and mercenaries <fx_15>who deserted on their way to the front; and by transfers from disbanded regiments, in which too large a number of the men appeared on the transfer papers only. An attempt has been made in the succeeding pages to render justice to such regiments by tabulating the original enrollment separately, and stating the percentage of killed as based on that. In the Fifth New Hampshire, which does not appear in the table of high percentages, 17.9 per cent. of the original regiment were killed or mortally wounded.

Care was necessary, also, to avoid counting names twice, as in many regiments men were transferred from one company to another, their names appearing on the muster-out rolls of each company. In the printed rolls of the New Jersey troops these men are counted twice in the recapitulation which appears at the end of each regimental roll, thereby increasing, apparently, the quota of men furnished, but lowering the percentage of killed. Still, the printed rolls of the New Jersey regiments are in better shape than those of any other State, and are highly creditable to the authorities who had charge of the publication. In the regimental rolls published by Massachusetts, the names of those who reenlisted appear twice; and in all the State rolls names are duplicated more or less as the result of transfers or consolidation of companies. On the War Department records, a man who reenlisted was counted as two men, and so credited on the quota of the State.

In the figures given here, pains have been taken to avoid counting a man more than once, the intention being that the total enrollment should show exactly the number of individuals who served in each regiment.

Chapter 2

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Chapter 3

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Chapter 4

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Chapter 5

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Chapter 6

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Chapter 7

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Chapter 8

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Chapter 9

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Chapter 10

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Chapter 11

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Chapter 12

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Chapter 13

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Chapter 14

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Chapter 15

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Index

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Other Sources

  1. ↑ This statement does not include the Heavy Artillery, which, owing to their larger form of organization, will be considered separately from the ordinary regiments of the line.
  2. ↑ New Hampshire: Adjutant-General's Report, 1866: Vol 1.
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