Alan J. Pitts
Re: Loss at Chickamauga
Wed Apr 4 09:23:22 2001


A favorite book from high school was Numbers and Losses in the Civil War. Here's the library citation:

Numbers and losses in the Civil war in America, 1861-1865; by Thomas L. Livermore. (Boston : New York : Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1901).

One of Livermore's rules of thumb was the proportion of killed to wounded. In most large actions it worked out at 1:4.5. I've forgotten much of what I once knew. However, that ratio has stuck.

Using Livermore's ratio, 398 killed would yield something like 1800 wounded. Of course that means that Deas would've ceased to have any semblance of a combat unit left long before the sun set on the second day at Chickamauga.

If this brigade suffered a 40% loss during the battle (a rather high percentage), killed wounded and missing may be estimated at 720 total. That leaves about 1,000 unhurt after the battle. Perhaps 150 men who had been absent for one reason or another at the time of Chickamauga returned in time for Missionary Ride, and an equal number of those wounded at Chickmauga also returned. That guess yields an estimated total of 1300+ present in the brigade by late November.

Livermore's book is a great guide for those of us who are interested in numbers.

• Fun with numbers. ; ) — Hayes Lowe, Wed Apr 4 11:18
• Re: Fun with numbers. ; ) — Alan J. Pitts, Wed Apr 4 23:48