The Alabama in the Civil War Message Board - Archive

Alabama casualties

The following is from a book entitled "Civil War and Reconstructiuon in Alabama" beginning on Page 251:

The Loss of Life

"...In the election of 1860 about 90,000 votes were cast, nearly the entire voting population, and about this number of men enlisted in the Confederate and Union armies. Various stimates were made of Alabnama losses during the war, most of which are doubtless too large. Among these Governor Parsons, in his inaugural address, gives the number of 35,000 killed or died of wounds and as many more disabled.

[In his inaugural proclamation of july 20, 1865 Gov. Parsons gives the following figures:

Alabama male population (1860) 15 to 60 years... 126,587
Connecticut male population (1860) 15 to 60 yrs.. 120,249
Alabama soldiers enlisted ...................... 122,000
Connecticut soldiers enlisted......................40,000
Alabama soldiers died in service...................35,000
Alabama soldiers disabled ................... 35,000]

Col. W. H. Fowler, for two years the state agent for settling the claims of deceased soldiers and also superintendent of army records, states that he had the names of nearly 20,0000 dead on his lists and believed this to be only about half the entire number; that the Alabama troops lost more heavily than any other troops. He asserted that of the 30,000 Alabama troops in the Army of
Nothern Virginia, over 9,000 had died in service and of those who were retired, discharged, or who resigned, about half were either dead or permanently disabled. (Fowlers Report, Transactions Ala. Hist. Soc., Vol II, p.188)

These estimates are evidently too large....Gov. Patton estimated that 40,000 had died in service, while 20,000 were disabled for life, and thatthere were 20,000 widows and 60,000 orphans. A Times correspondent places the loss in war at 34,000 [N.Y. Times, Oct. 31,1865].

The strongest regiments were worn out by 1865. At Appomattox
when three times as many men surrendered as were in condition to bear arms, the Alabama commands paroled hardly enough men in each regiment to form a good company. Though the average enlistment had been 1350 to the regiment, one of the best regiments - the Third Alabama Infantry - paroled: from Co. B - 8 Men, Co. D - 7, Co. G - 4, Co. E - 7, while the Fifth Alabama paroled: from Co. A - 2, B - 7, C - 2, E - 2, F - 1, K - 3. The Twelth Alabama: Co. A - 4, C -6, D - 6, E -4, G -3, I -5, M - 4, Sixth Alabama (over 2000 enlistments) D - 2, F - 2, I - 5, M - 4, Sixty First Alabama: B - 2, C - 4, E - 1, G - 5, I - 4,K - 3, Fifteenth Ala.: C - 8, Forty Eighth Ala. C - 6, K - 7, Ninth Alabama: 70 men in all - an average of 7 to a company. Thirteenth Alabama: 85 men in all, Fourty first Alabama: 74 men in all. Forty First, Forty Third, Fifty Ninth, Sixtieth and Twenty Third: 220 men in all. Some companies were entirely annihilated, having neither officers or enlisted men. ...The census of 1866 contains the names of 8,957 soldiers killed in battle, 13,534 who died of disease or wounds, and 2,629 disabled for life...[Census of 1866, Selma Times and Messenger, March 24, 1868]

I hope this helps some in the efforts to pin down Alabama's
C.W. casualties

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