It doesn't appear that there is any accurate information on Alabama deaths during the war. If this message board were to take this on as a project, it would probably mean going to the original sources for each regiment. Since some of us have some expertise for particular regiments, maybe volunteering to research the totals for those regiments would be a way to get things started. I would be glad to work with the 9th Alabama Regiment (and maybe other regiments of the Wilcox Brigade if no one else would wanted to cover them).

If this project would be to post the informtion on a website for others to see and use, as mentioned like a virtual Vietnam Wall, we should ask a few questions before beginning:

What is the question we really want to ask: How many soldiers were killed or wounded in battle? or
How many soldiers died as a result of the Civil War? There is a difference. This is not asking about civilian casualties.

What are we defining as "casualties?" Killed-wounded-missing? How do we handle captured soldiers, desertion, AWOL soldiers so we don't double count them as missing? Do we add death totals from prisoners-of-war to the aggrgate totals? Do we count soldiers who were executed?

What kinds of soldiers do we count: regular army, cavalry, artillery, supply, teamsters, sea raiders, Provost Guard, Navy, Home Guard, militia, hospital staff, military schools (like VMI), para-military or guerilla units, spies and government agents, and a host of others I can't think of right now? How do we define an Alabama soldier: one who serves in an Alabama unit, regardless of his home state (Cadmus Wilcox was from Tennessee, for expample)? I'll be honest, I have no idea if all of the above are considered in any of the casualty figuers for the war.

When do we stop counting? Just like the Vietnam Wall- how close to the end of the war does your death have to occur to be included? My gr-gr-grandfather died of war-related complications in 1869...do we count him? Do we include soldiers who became ill or wounded during the war and died the day after it was over?

I think it could be a valuable contribution to Civil War research. If the figures are expanded to include deaths off the battlefield and those occuring immediately after the war of participants, it could provide some very enlightening information about the affects of the war over time. For every soldier who died as a result of battle, three perished from disease (Joseph Jones, on Confederate medicine). Between June 1861 and March 1862 the 9th Alabama lost nearly 400 men from its ranks- and it had never been in battle during that time! Not all of those who later died of disease or injury were still attached to their units.

Again, I would be glad to help with the regiments that I know.

John