American Civil War Facts:
  1. The United States populations in 1860 is 31,443,321. Approximately 23,000,000 were in the 22 Northern states and 9,000,000 in the 11 Southern states. Of the latter total, 3,500,000 were slaves.
  2. The Northern armies numbered 2,100,000 soldiers.
  3. The total dead on both sides was about 500,000.
  4. Of the 364,000 on the Union side who lost their lives, a third were killed or died of wounds and two-thirds died of disease.
  5. The chance of surviving a wound in Civil War days was 7 to 1; in the Korean War, 50 to 1
  6. 15% of the wounded died in the Civil War
  7. There were 6,000,000 cases of disease in the Federal armies.
  8. The diseases most prevalent were dysentery, typhoid fever, malaria, pneumonia, arthritis, and the acute diseases of childhood, such as measles, mumps, and malnutrition.
  9. 80% of all wounds were produced was a single-shot, muzzle-loading rifle in the hands of foot soldiers.
  10. Most wounds were caused by an elongated 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 Capt.
  11. Fully armed, a soldier carried about seven 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.
  12. The muzzle-loading rifle could be loaded at the rate of about three times a minute. Its maximum range was about 1000 yards.
  13. 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 lethal weapon.
  14. Artillery was used extensively, but only about 10 percent of the wounded were the victims of artillery fire.
  15. Besides the rifle and cannon, weapons consisted of revolvers, swords, cutlasses, hand grenades, Greek fire and land mines.
  16. Many doctors who saw service in the Civil War had never been to medical school, but had served an apprenticeship in the office of an established practitioner.
  17. In the Peninsular campaign in the spring of 1862, as many as 5000 wounded were brought into a hospital where there were only one medical man and five hospital stewards to care for them.
  18. The first organized ambulance corps were used in the Peninsular campaign and at Antietam.
  19. In the battle of Gettysburg, 1100 ambulances were in use. The medical director of the Union army boasted that all the wounded were picked up from the field within 12 hours after the battle was over.
  20. 80% of all wounds during the Civil War were in the extremities
  21. The first U. S. Naval hospital ship, the Red Rover, was used on the inland waters during the Vicksburg campaign.