William F. Fox, Lt. Col. U. S. V., Regimental Losses in the American Civil War, 1861-1865: 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

Chapter 15: Confederate losses — strength of the Confederate Armies--casualties in Confederate regiments — list of Confederate Generals killed — losses in the Confederate Navy.

The phrase “military population,” as used in the Eighth Census, represented the white males between the ages of 18 and 45, and included all who were unfit for military duty on account of physical or mental infirmities. These exempts — which include, also, all cases of minor defects — constitute, in every country, one-fifth of the military population.² But the Confederate recruiting officers did not insist on any high standard of physical requirements. Their need was too pressing; and they accepted all recruits or conscripts except those whose disabilities manifestly incapacitated them for military service.

The Confederate States, however, could send to the war a far greater proportion of their military population than the Northern States, as they possessed a large agricultural population of blacks who were exempt from military service. The aggregate enrollment of the Confederate Armies during the whole war, according to their best authorities, numbered over 600,000 effective men; of whom not over 400,000 were enrolled at any time.³ These eleven States furnished, also, 86,009 men to the Union Armies, receiving in return over 19,000 men from the Border.

Many will hold, and with good reasons, that 600,000 is too low an estimate for the total number that served in tile Confederate Armies. Their military population and sweeping conscription acts indicate more. The number of regiments which served continously during the war indicate more.

A compilation made from the official rosters of the Confederate Armies as they stood at various battles, and at various dates covering the entire period of the war shows that the different States kept the following number of regimental organizations in almost cntinuous service in the field: [553]

Alabama--55 regiments, and 11 battalions of infantry; 5 regiments of cavalry; 3 regiments of partisan rangers; and 16 batteries of light artillery.

Arkansas--35 regiments, and 12 battalions of infantry; 6 regiments, and 2 battalions of cavalry; and 15 batteries of light artillery.

Florida--10 regiments, and 2 battalions of infantry; 2 regiments, and 1 battalion of cavalry; and 6 batteries of light artillery.

Georgia--68 regiments, and 17 battalions of infantry; 11 regiments, and 2 battalions of cavalry; 1 regiment, and 1 battalion of partisan rangers; 2 battalions of heavy artillery; and 28 batteries of light artillery.

Louisiana--34 regiments, and 10 battalions of infantry; 2 regiments, and 1 battalion of cavalry; 1 regiment of partisan rangers; 2 regiments of heavy artillery; and 26 batteries of light artillery.

Mississippi--49 regiments, and 6 battalions of infantry; 7 regiments, and 4 battalions of cavalry; 2 regiments of partisan rangers; and 20 batteries of light artillery.

North Carolina--69 regiments, and 4 battalions of infantry; 1 regiment, and 5 battalions of cavalry; 2 battalions of heavy artillery; and 9 batteries of light artillery.

South Carolina--33 regiments, and 2 battalions of infantry; 7 regiments and 1 battalion of cavalry; 1 regiment, and 1 battalion, of heavy artillery; and 28 batteries of light artillery.

Tennessee--61 regiments, and 2 battalions of infantry; 21 regiments, and 11 battalions of cavalry; 1 regiment, and 1 battalion of heavy artillery; and 32 batteries of light artillery.

Texas--22 regiments, and 5 battalions of infantry; 28 regiments, and 4 battalions of cavalry;⁴ and 16 batteries of light artillery.

Virginia--65 regiments, and 10 battalions of infantry; 22 regiments, and 11 battalions of cavalry; 1 regiment of partisan rangers; 1 regiment of artillery; and 53⁵ batteries of light artillery.

Border States--21 regiments, and 4 battalions of infantry; 9 regiments, and 5 battalions of cavalry; and 11 batteries of light artillery.

C. S. Regulars--7 regiments of infantry; 6 regiments of cavalry; and one battery of light artillery.

aggregate--529 regiments, and 85 battalions of infantry; 127 regiments and 47 battalions of cavalry; 8 regiments and 1 battalion of partisan rangers ; regiments and 6 battalions of heavy artillery; and 261 batteries of light artillery.

In all, equivalent to 764 regiments of 10 companies each.

These were all troops of the line, and they served during the whole, or the greater part of the war. The number does not include regiments which served a short time only; neither does it include disbanded or consolidated regiments; nor State militia, Junior Reserves, Senior Reserves, Home Guards, Local Defense regiments, and separate companies. And, yet, these miscellaneous organizations rendered effective service at times, and took the place of regular troops. The Petersburg intrenchments on June 15, l864, were held successfully by militiamen during the first assault, until the arrival of Lee's army. Partisan bands like Moseby's and John Morgan's kept ten times their number of Union cavalry employed in protecting the territory in which they operated, or in watching their movements.

The question arises, next, as to the average enrollment of the Confederate regiments. That known, the strength of their armies could be soon computed. The rolls of the North Carolina regiments have been printed and,--with the eight regiments of Junior and Senior Reserves not included in the foregoing list,--slow a total enrollment of 125,000 men. These rolls, incomplete as they necessarily are, show that twenty-two of the North Carolina regiments [554] numbered over 1,500 men, each; and some of them over 1,800. The Confederacy organized but few new regiments after 1862; the recruits and conscripts were assigned to the old regiments to keep them up to an effective strength.

The total loss of the Confederate Armies in killed and mortally wounded will never be definitely known, and can be stated only in round numbers. A summing up of the casualties at each battle and minor engagement — using official reports only, and in their absence accepting Confederate estimates — indicates that 94,000 men were killed or mortally wounded on the Confederate side during the war.

In the report for 1865-6, made by General James B. Fry, United States Provost Marshal-General, there is a tabulation of Confederate losses as compiled from the muster-rolls on file in the Bureau of Confederate Archives. The returns are incomplete, and nearly all the Alabama rolls are missing. Still the figures are worth noting, as they show that at least 74,524 were killed or died of wounds; and, that 59,297 died of disease. From Gen. Fry's tabulation the following abstract is made:

deaths in Confederate Armies.

If the Confederate rolls could have been completed, and then revised,--as has been done with the rolls of the Union regiments,--the number of killed as shown above (74,524) would be largely increased. As it is, the extent of such increase must remain a matter of conjecture. The Union rolls were examined at the same time, and a similar tabulation of the number killed appears, also, in General Fry's report. But this latter number was increased 15,000 by a subsequent revision based upon the papers known as “final statements,” and upon) newly-acquired information received through affidavits filed at the Pension Bureau.

To understand the full meaning of these figures one must keep in mind the sparse population of these States. Their military population in 1861 was:

Of this number,