Civil War Statistics

“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Mark Twain

Statistics are notoriously unreliable, and in no instance are statistics more unreliable than those that exist about the Civil War. Historians often quibble about statistics that exist regarding the Civil War, and it’s no wonder – while records were kept during the war, many of the statistics that exist about the Civil War have been gathered from personal documents such as letters and diaries.

Record-keeping as we know it today did not exist during the Civil War era; exact enumeration of men who served, casualties, and other factors was simply not possible with the limitations of the technology the time, making definitive statistics about the war impossible to know. Filing multiple copies of records in different locations was not a standard practice, making these records vulnerable to disasters such as fire and flood. And when one considers that most of the statistics gathered by record keepers during the war traveled along with military camps, it is amazing that any records survived at all.

Compounding the problem is the fact that many of the statistics related to the Confederacy were either lost or destroyed. Destruction of property in the Confederacy by U.S. military installations was not uncommon; in wiping out the Confederacy, much of the history of the Confederacy was wiped out, as well.

That being said, here is an assortment of statistics associated with the Civil War. All numbers are approximate:

Number of men who served:
Union - 2,200,000
Percentage of Population: 67%

Confederacy - 1,064,000
Percentage of Population: 33%

Number of Casualties:
Union - 110,000 killed in action
360,000 total dead
275,200 wounded
Confederacy - 93,000 killed in action
260,000 total dead
137,000+ wounded

Number of States in Country:
Union – 23
Confederacy – 11

Number of States Who Remained Neutral (Border States): 5 (Maryland, Delaware, Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia)

Number of People in the United States as of 1860 Census:
31,183,582

Number of People in the Confederate States of America as of 1860 Census (number is included in United States figure for 1860):
9,103,332

Number of Slaves in the Confederate States of America as of 1860 Census (number is included in the Confederate States of America figure for 1860):
3,521,110

Firearm Production in United States and Confederate States of America, combined (as of 1860):
United States: 97%
Confederacy: 3%

Three Deadliest Battles of the Civil War:

Battle of Gettysburg:
Number of Confederate Forces: 71,699
Number of Union Forces: 94,589
Number of Casualties: 51,112
Union Casualties: 23,049
Confederate Casualties: 28,063
Victor: Union

Battle of Chickamauga:
Number of Confederate Forces: 75,357
Number of Union Forces: 61,753
Number of Casualties: 34,624
Union Casualties: 16,170
Confederate Casualties: 18,454
Victor: Confederacy

Battle of Chancellorsville:
Number of Confederate Forces: 60,892
Number of Union Forces: 133,868
Number of Casualties: 30,099
Union Casualties: 17,278
Confederate Casualties: 12,821
Victor: Confederacy

Number of Military Engagements During the Civil War: 10,000 plus

Number of Men Who Resigned from the U.S. Army to Join the Confederacy: 313