The greatest regimental loss of the entire war was borne by the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery. The unit saw no action until 1864, but in the short span of less than one year, over half of its 2,202 men engaged in battle were hit. In the assault on Petersburg in June, 1864, the regiment lost 604 men killed and wounded in less than 20 minutes.
The largest regimental loss in a single battle was suffered by the 26th North Carolina Infantry at Gettysburg. The regiment went into battle with a little over 800 men, and by the end of the third day, 708 were dead, wounded, or missing. In one company of 84, every officer and man was hit.
Of the 46 Confederate regiments that went into the famous charge at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, 15 were commanded by General Pickett. Thirteen of his regiments were led by Virginia Military Institute graduates; only two of them survived the charge.
The heaviest numerical loss during any single battle was at Gettysburg, where 40,322 Americans were killed or wounded. On the Union side 21 per cent of those engaged were killed or wounded, in the Confederate ranks 30 per cent—the largest percentage of Confederates hit in any battle. The largest percentage of Union soldiers hit in battle was at Port Hudson in May 1863, where 26.7 per cent of those engaged were killed or wounded.
During May and June 1864 the Armies of the Potomac and the James lost 77,452 men—a greater number than Lee had in his entire army.
Union Army hospitals treated over 6 million cases during the war. There were twice as many deaths from disease as from hostile bullets. Diarrhea and dysentery alone took the lives of 44,558 Union soldiers.
From 1861-1865 the Quartermaster Corps of the Union Army made 116,148 burials.
In the 79 National Civil War cemeteries, 54 per cent of the graves are those of unknown soldiers. The largest Civil War cemetery is at Vicksburg, where 16,000 soldiers rest; only 3,896 are known. At the Confederate prison site in Salisbury, North Carolina, where 12,126 Union soldiers are buried, 99 per cent are unknown.
