Historian J. David Hacker has devised new casualty figures for the Civil War, which he discusses in-depth in an article in the December issue of Civil War History.
Many historians have disputed the widely accepted figure of 620,000 Americans killed, noting that the 258,000 Confederate casualties is too low. However, detailed records on troop strength were kept sporadically on both sides, so establishing a more accurate estimate has proved difficult.
Hacker used 1870 census figures as the basis for his calculations and came up with an estimated total of between 650,000 to 850,000 casualties.
Click here for more details on Hacker's work.
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