Union Army's cemetery at Gettysburg
It's hard for me to figure out what is true, based on what I read and hear about the severity of the Civil War.
Repeatedly we are told that the total deaths was 600,000.
Comparing that number to today's U.S. population, it would be 6 million deaths!
But, if you look at specific battles, the numbers don't add up.
In each of the 3 big battlefields we visited, the death toll has been between 4 and 8,000 each.
Yet, some of first articles that appears on a Google search say there were 51,000 deaths at the Gettysburg battlefield!
A problem is that "deaths" and "casualties" are quoted interchangeably.
In fact, some claim that the total deaths just at Gettysburg was 51,000 (equal to the total deaths in Vietnam).
That has to be just plain wrong!
Union Army's cemetery at Gettysburg.
There are NOT as many graves here as many articles report.
There are NOT as many graves here as many articles report.
Most reliable-sounding articles say that the total numbers at the Gettysburg battlefield were around 8,000 killed….
plus 27,000 wounded, and 11,000 captured/missing.
There would have to be a lot of Gettysburg-size battles to add up to 600,000 deaths!
OK, OK Lets look at it differently.
Some say that 1/3 or 2/3 of those wounded eventually died from their injuries.
1/3 X 27K injured = 9,000 delayed deaths Or 2/3 X 27k = 18,000 delayed deaths
That's a potential of up to 26,000 total, (8K immediate & 18K delayed deaths) at Gettysburg, if you eliminate the "missing".
There would still have to be a to of Gettysburg-size battles to add up to 600,000 deaths.
When asked about that, many Park Rangers say the missing were assumed to be deaths whose bodies were not counted or found.
Plus, many died from diseases not related directly to battle.
But, they don't have numbers readily available.
Well, that might be worth exploring!
You can call me a little skeptical or even critical...
but, instead of assuming that all those missing or unaccounted fellows died, I think it is also likely that when the going-got-tough, the less-than-tough got going (i.e. home).
I don't argue that it was a horrible war,
just that people are using numbers that are unlikely to be correct.
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