Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 June 1885 — CASUALTIES OF THE REBELLION. [ARTICLE]

CASUALTIES OF THE REBELLION.

The Killed and Wounded and Deaths from Diseases During the Late War. [Washington special.] Twenty years have passed since the dose of the civil war, and now, at last, a careful official record of the number of deaths that occurred In the Union army has been made. A little more than twelve months ago, on the 2d of Jane, 1884, Gen. Drum directed Mr. J. W. Kirklev, an experienced statistician of the Adjutant General’s office, to begin the compilation of this record, with the aid of ten clerks. A minute and exhaustive exploration of all attainable official documents has now produced a table of statistics which far surpasses in completeness anything on the subject hitherto existing. To state the grand result at the outset* the table shows a total of 9,858 deaths of commissioned officers and 349,913 deaths of enlisted men. making an aggregate of 359,4% deaths among the Union forces. The period included in the r’eco: d is, for the regnlar troops, the interval between April 15. 1861, and August 1, 1865; for a portion of the volunteers it is prolonged beyond the latter date until the muster out of each organization. It will be remembered that the troubles in Mexico and other causes occasioned the retention ot some volunteers in the service after the downfall of the Confederacy. Indeed, as Mr. Kirkley notes the last white volunteer organization was disbanded November 18. 1867, and the last colored regiment December 20, 1867, while the last officer of the volunteer general staff was not mustered out until July 1, 1869. • Vet, careful as the examination of the records has been, one lack renders it still far from complete. The death registers of some ot the largest prisons at the South, used for the contincment of Un on soldiers, are missing. For the prisons at Americus, Atlanta, Augusta, Charleston, Lynchburg, Macon, Marietta, Mobile, Montgomery, Savannah. Shreveport, and Tyler, the regia tei s have not been secured at all, and the importance of these prisons is well known. Only partial records were had from the prisons at Cahawba, Columbia, Florence, 8. C., Millen, and Salisbury. There have been ways, it is true, of partly working up these deficiencies; but, on the other hand, as Quartermaster General Meigs, cited by Air. Kirkley, has shown, in many Southern prisons three or four corpses of Union prisoners were sometimes buried in the same trench, and [the number of graves only imperfectly indicates the number of dead. Even in this most imperfect record the number or Union soldiers known to have died in captivity was close upon '3o»ooo—in exact figures, 29,498. The late investigation, we may add, has increased by about one-sixth the records of deaths among Union prisoners. Taking Mr. Klrkley’s tables, we derive from them the following general results: Enlisted AggreOfficers. men. gate. Killed or died of wounds .6,365 103,673 110,038 Died of disease 2,795 221,791 224,586 Drowned 106 4,838 4,944 Other accidental deaths.. 142 3,972 4,114 Murdered 37 487 524 Killed after capture 14 86 100 Committed suicide 26 365 391 Executed 267 267 Executed by enemy 4 60 64 Died from sunstroke 5 308 313 Other known causes 62 1,972 2,034 Causes not stated 28 12,093 12,121 Totals 9,584 349,912 359,496 The official tables, as published from a manuscript copy in the Army and Navy Journal , further distribute all these classes ot deaths among the Union troops by States, it being explained that the phrase "other known causes” includes deaths resulting from quarrels not amounting to murder, from being shot by sentries or by the provost guard, and miscellaneous causes. Without going into minor details, if we select the three leading causes of death, and then include both these and all others in a column of aggregates, we shall reach this result in a classification by States: Killed Died of Died of 4.• 'J 4 . States. in octfon wounds, disease. 1 os.| m 7 oiT m7off. mT Alabama.... 8 16 1 28| 1 227 309 Prisoners f. 2 .... 22 39 345 Arkansas.... 9 225 5 63 12 1242 1633 Prisoners 3 .... 8 30 1713 California.... 4 69 2 33 8 336 673 573 Colorado 4 114 .... 35 3 117 322 Prisoners 1 823 Connecticut. 81 1024 66 751 57 2485 4724 Prisoners 2 36 1 525 633 6354 Dakota 2 4 6 6 Delaware.... 18 189 11 165 10 349 806 Prisoners 75 76 882 Dis. of Col.. 3 25 1 10 5 145 230 Prisoners.,. 2 .... 44 60 290 Florida 8.... 10 2 'lB7 213 Prisoners 2 215 Georgia 13 15 15 Illinois 339 5535 205 3666 307 20758 32886 Prisoners 7 142 3 1718 1948 34834 Indiana 244 4028 i 151 2733 204 16429 25363 Prisoners 6 82 ft 1143 1309 26672 lowa 119 1946 71 1254 100 8398 12295 Prisoners 11 139 7 508 706 13001 Kansas. 24 494 7 181 27 1611 2554 Prisoners 2 29 ... 36 86 2630 Kentucky... 95 1390 39 901 121 6263 9764 Prisoners 63 1 859 1020 10774 Louisiana... 4 125 6 80 3 621 929 Prisoners 15 16 945 Maine 115 1658 86 1291 69 5198 8732 Prisoners 4 30 .... 641 666 9398 Maryland.... 33 494 15 361 18 1142 2260 Prisoners 16 7 640 722 2982 Massach’ts.. 248 3457 117 2174 60 6470 12078 Prisoners 3- 116 6 1477 1864 13942 Michigan... 156 2642 65 1478 75 8194 13294 Prisoners 8 99 3 1265 1459 14763 Minnesota.. 21 373 11 209 26 1651 2392 Prisoners 12 .... 159 192 2584 Mississippi 3.... 66 78 78 Missouri.... 101 2089 66 1040 118 9125 13563 Prisoners 29 .... 225 834 1385 Nebraska.... 1 29 .... 5 2 157 237 Prisoners 2 289 Nevada 2 83 S 3 N.H’mps’e.. 84 970 43 741 37 2390 4482 Prisoners 32 .... 294 368 4850 New Jersey. 114 1550 33 828 27 2388 5232 Prisoners 6 48 1 418 522 6754 New Mexico. 3 64.... 16 5 138 277 277 New York... 772 11329 361 6314 829 19506 40988 Prisoners 20 299 16 4694 6546 46534 N. Carolina.. 4 25 .... 13 4 212 290 Prisoners 1 .... 49 70 360 Ohio 402 6433 228 4303 262 19X13 32764 Prisoners 11 211 12 2344 2711 35475 Oregon 1 9 .... 1 .... 21 45 45 Pennsylv’a... 608 8772 268 6315 181 11602 28420 Prisoners 8 352 7 4114 4763 33183 R. Island.... 18 278 10 148 16 632 1218 Prisoners 6 .... 84 103 1321 Tennessee... 25 441 16 240 44 4042 5495 Prisoners 22 .... 1150 1282 6777 Texas 8 .... 4 1 IDO 133 Prisoners 1 8 141 Vermont.... 64 997 83 676 81 2566 4589 Prisoners 1 38 4 485 635 5224 Virginia 4 .... 6 .... 16 29 Prisoners 13 18 42 W. Virginia. 61 717 18 412 20 1858 3340 Prisoners 2 37 .... 617 677 4017 Wisconsin... 115 2270 71 1270 101 7363 11590 Prisoners.: 5 71 4 600 711 12301 Wash. Ter 2 10 22 22 Ind. Nations. 4 82 1 20 18 757 1016 Prisoners 2 1018 Vet. R.corps .... 1 .... 26 26 1398 1682 1682 Vt. Vol (H.C) 1 3 79 106 106 VoIEg.&S.S. 9 158 5 91 3 244 527 Prisoners 25 25 552 Vol. Infantry .... 6 1 5 2 200 243 243 Gen.AS.OH. 50 32 142 236 Prisoners 2 1 3 239 Col’d troops. 100 1615 43 1102 137 29521 36556 Prisoners 34 1 97 2911 36847 Mis’laneous 13.... 3 .... 200 23d ..7>.. Prisoners 2 2 232 Reg. army.. 85 1262 56 838 104 2448 6192 Prisoners 3 39 3 537 606 6798 Total 4142162896 2124 38804 -2712! 197008 329998 Prisoners 99| 1973 ; 831 24783 ; 29498 Aggregate... 4142,62896 2225140777 2795 221791.359496 359496 This aggrrgate of nearly 3f0,000 deaths of Union soldiers must bo supplemented by alike record ot Confederate soldiers, in order to find the real.number ot victims to the war in both armies. Then the naval deaths must also be ascertained and added. Many a soldier and sailor met a fate more dreaded than death in being crippled for life or made the prey of lingering disease contracted in the service.