Civil War

The Civil War was the bloodiest war ever fought on American soil. During an average day during the war, approximately 600 people were killed. By the end of the war, over 618,000 people had died. This is more Americans than WWI, WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War combined.b If the names of the Civil War dead were organized similar to the names on the Vietnam Memorial wall, the Civil War memorial would be over 10 times longer.J During the Civil War, 2% of the U.S. population died. This is equivalent to 6 million men today. While rifles were the deadliest weapons during the war, disease killed more men. Camps became breeding grounds for measles, chicken pox, and mumps. One million Union solders contracted malaria.d One of every 65 Federals and 1 of every 45 Confederates were killed in action.d The Civil War is also known as "The Boy's War" The youngest soldier in the Civil War was a 9-year-old boy from Mississippi. The oldest was an 80-year-old from Iowa. More than 10,000 soldiers serving in the Union Army were under 18 years old.g A Civil War soldier’s chance of surviving the war was about 1 in 4.e More Americans died at the Bloody Angle at Spotsylvania, Virginia, in May 1864 than at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944.d Both the war’s bloodiest day (Antietam) and its bloodiest battle (Gettysburg) occurred in Union states. More than 5,000 soldiers died at Antietam, making September 17, 1862, the single bloodiest day in U.S. military history.d Gettysburg was the largest battle ever fought in North America. It’s victor, General Meade, was born in Spain.d The most common operation performed on soldiers during the Civil War was amputation. The best surgeon could have a limb severed and discard within five minutes. Civil War doctors were nicknamed “sawbones.” There were 60,000 partial or complete amputations during the war.h