Page:Facts About the Civil War (1955).djvu/10



Some authorities accredit the 26th North Carolina Regiment with having incurred the greatest loss in a single battle recorded in the Civil War. At the Battle of Gettysburg, it lost 708 of its men, or approximately 85 per cent of its total strength. In one company of 84 men, every man and officer was hit. The orderly sergeant who made out the report had a bullet wound through both legs.

The 1st Maine Heavy Artillery in the assault on Petersburg, June 1864, lost 604 men killed and wounded in less than 20 minutes. This organization did not see action until 1864. In less than one year it lost in killed and wounded 1,283 men out of 2,202.

During the Battle of Stone’s River, the Union artillery fired 20,307 rounds and the infantry exhausted over 2,000,000 rounds. The total weight of the projectiles fired was in excess of 375,000 pounds.

At the Battle of First Bull Run or Manassas, between 8,000 and 10,000 bullets were fired for every man killed or wounded.

At the Battle of Shiloh in 1862, there were 23,700 Union and Confederate casualties.

During the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1862, “Stonewall” Jackson marched his force of 16,000 men over 600 miles in 39 days, fighting five major battles and defeating four separate armies totaling 63,000.

In the Vicksburg campaign in 1863, Grant won five battles within a period of 18 days, captured 67 field guns, and inflicted casualties of approximately 5,200 on the enemy. He captured 31,600 prisoners, 172 cannon and 60,000 small arms when Vicksburg fell—the greatest military haul ever made in the western hemisphere.