Section #1 - The Life of Abraham Lincoln
Chapter 78: The War Is a Catastrophe for America
Total casualties over the four years total 1.1 million, almost 3% of the total U.S. populations. (This percent translates to about 10 million in 2020.)
The North fields 2.2 million soldiers, with 110,000 killed in battle and 224,000 dying of disease, along with 275,000 wounded and 31,000 missing. Of the South’s 900,000 troops, 94,000 die in battle and another 144,000 of disease, 194,000 are wounded and 31,000 missing.
Despite their potential impact on the outcome, the South never enlists Black recruits. Meanwhile the North musters in 179,000 “coloured” troops, largely through the efforts of Frederick Douglass, whose has two sons join up. Douglass also assembles most of the famed 54th Massachusetts Regiment who fight heroically at the July 1863 Battle for Ft. Wagner.
The financial costs are likewise staggering. For the North they amount to $6.2 Billion during the war and another $3.3 Billion in pensions. The South spends $2.1 Billion to fight and untold amounts to rebuild it ruined infrastructure.
These expenses are visible in the Federal Debt which rises from $65 million in 1860 to $2.7 billion in 1865.