20 Random Facts About the Civil War

* According to the U.S. census, the population in the United States in 1860 numbered 31, 443, 321 persons. Of these, aproximately 23,000,000 were in the 22 Northern states 9,000,000 in the 11 Southern states. Of the latter total, 3, 500, 000 were slaves.
* At one time or another, the Northern armies numbered 2,100,000 soldiers. The Southern armies were considerably smaller. The total dead on both sides was about 500,000.
* Of the 364,000 on the Union side who ost their lives, a third were killed or died of wounds while two thirds died of disease.
* The chance of surviving a wound in the Civil War days was 7 to 1; in the Korean war 50 to 1.
* About 15 % of the wounded died in the Civil War; about 8 % in WW1; about 4 % in WW2; about 2% in the Korean War.
* There were 6,000,000 cases of disease in the Federal armies, which meant that, on average, every man was sick at least twice.
* The diseases most prevelant were dysentery, typhoid fever, malaria, pnemonia, arthritis, and the acute diseases of childhood, such as measles, mumps and malnutrition.
*Most wounds were caused by an enlongated bullet made of soft lead, about an inch long, pointed at one end and hollowed out at the base, and called a "minie" ball having been invented by Captain Minie of of the French army.
*Fully armed, a soldier carried about 7 pounds of ammunition. His cartridge box contained 40 rounds, and an additional 60 rounds might be conveyed in the pocket if an extensive battle was anticipated.
*Most infantry rifles were equipped with bayonets, but very few men wounded by bayonet showed up at hospitals. The conclusion was that the bayonet was not a lethel weapon. The explanation probably lay in the fact that opposing soldiers did not often actually come to grips and, when they did, were prone to use their rifles as clubs.
*Artillery was used extensively, but only 10% of the wounded were victims of artillery fire.

* Besides the rifle and cannon, weapons consisted of revolvers, swords, cutlasses, hand grenades, Greek fire and land mines.
*Many doctors who saw service in the Civil War never went to medical school
*The first organized ambulance corps were used in the Peninsular campaign at Antietam.
*In the battle of Gettysburg, 1100 ambulances were used. The medical director of the Union army boasted that all the wounded were picked up within 12 hours after the battle was over. This was a far cry from the second battle of Bull Run, when many of the wounded were left in the heat, rain, and sun for three or four days.
*Eighty % of all wounds in the Civil War were in the extremities.
*The first U.S. Naval hospital ship, the Red Rover, was used on the inland waters during the Vicksburg campaign.