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 (1861-1865) Civil War Battles (Eastern Theater)
Message
Larry Purtell
Little Meadows PA USA
Posts: 1584
Joined: 2004
May 13, 1863
5/13/2023 12:39:18 PM


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"My goal is to live forever. So far, so good.
Phil Andrade
London  UK
Posts: 6072
Joined: 2004
May 13, 1863
5/13/2023 5:45:12 PM
This is harrowing evidence of the suffering that afflicted small communities. The wounded not only enumerated, but the nature of the wounds detailed: this was the duty of care that the soldiers undertook in conveying news .

Six killed in two companies, five times as many wounded : one of them Sgt Hicks, in the bowels, mortally. Imagine reading that about your son, husband or father. I wonder how many loved ones tried frantically to reach their dying men, to comfort them in their agonies and to bring them home to bury.

How far is it from Raleigh NC to that Virginia battlefield , and how many families could afford to travel there ?

Ramseur himself was to perish on the battlefield later in the war.

For northern counterparts, this battle was even harder to bear, with seventeen thousand casualties, many of them left in the hands of the enemy.

What a dreadful reckoning of suffering and grief this war brought to the American people !

Regards, Phil
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"Egad, sir, I do not know whether you will die on the gallows or of the pox!" "That will depend, my Lord, on whether I embrace your principles or your mistress." Earl of Sandwich and John Wilkes
Larry Purtell
Little Meadows PA USA
Posts: 1584
Joined: 2004
May 13, 1863
5/13/2023 6:19:22 PM
If I had the time I would to check each man listed as wounded and check to see if he survived. My guess is a large percentage died and and were never counted as such. My true feeling is that the real number of mortal casualties from all causes 61-65 is far more than the 600,000 normally accepted.


Larry.
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"My goal is to live forever. So far, so good.
Phil Andrade
London  UK
Posts: 6072
Joined: 2004
May 13, 1863
5/14/2023 1:33:58 AM
Quote:
If I had the time I would to check each man listed as wounded and check to see if he survived. My guess is a large percentage died and and were never counted as such. My true feeling is that the real number of mortal casualties from all causes 61-65 is far more than the 600,000 normally accepted.


Larry.
.

You wouldn’t be alone in that, Larry.

I would contend, though, that the same re-assessment is applicable to other wars too.


Regards, Phil
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"Egad, sir, I do not know whether you will die on the gallows or of the pox!" "That will depend, my Lord, on whether I embrace your principles or your mistress." Earl of Sandwich and John Wilkes
Michigan Dave
Muskegon MI USA
Posts: 7640
Joined: 2006
May 13, 1863
5/14/2023 8:20:16 AM
Thanks again Larry for the casualty reports!

MD
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"The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract."

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