Virginia Civil War Killed Total Casualties Dead Battle Died

Virginia Civil War Total Killed

Virginia Civil War Total Killed and Wounded

Virginia Civil War Total Dead and Died of Disease

Union and Confederate Casualties

Battle of Cloyd's Mountain Total Casualties and Prisoners

The Battle of Cloyd's Mountain, fought in southwestern Virginia on May 9, 1864, officially resulted in Federal losses of 108 killed, 508 wounded and 72 captured or missing, for a grand total of 688 casualties, and Confederate losses were 76 killed, 262 wounded and 200 captured or missing for a grand total of 538. Combined Union and Confederate casualties totaled 1,196. The reader is encouraged to read the tabulations carefully, for the losses also include a small number of soldiers killed following the Confederate rout and retreat and during the subsequent Battle of New River Bridge fought on May 10. The final adjusted casualty tabulations for Cloyd's Mountain, however, do not include the soldiers who died as a result of their wounds and diseases after the Civil War concluded less than one year later in April 1865. The following reports are the final adjusted tabulations by both armies, and although the totals are considered the official casualty numbers for Cloyd's Mountain, the figures were subsequently agreed upon by those who fought and survived that bloody engagement causing total losses of nearly 1,200 soldiers.

Confederate Casualties for Battle of Cloyd's Mountain

Total Confederate Casualties, Official Records

Total Casualties for Battle of Cloyd's Mountain, Official Records.

All the Confederates listed as missing-in-action were captured, so the total captured should be 200.

Union Casualties for Battle of Cloyd's Mountain

Union Casualties for Battle of Cloyd's Mountain, Official Records.

Casualties

The total Casualties for both Union and Confederate armies were drawn from the final casualty tabulations, including company, regimental, brigade, and division reports, with respective adjustments, and include Cloyd's Mountain, Jeffersonville, and New River bridge. The initial tabulations from both Union Brig. Gen. Crook and Confederate Col. McCausland were included and subsequently amended.

After reviewing numerous casualty reports and returns from the regiments and units engaged at Cloyd's Mountain, they were found to contain the usual estimates, embellishments and exaggerations that are in the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.

For example, Crook said in an earlier tabulation that during the battle his men had captured 230 prisoners, in addition to the wounded, and afterwards buried more than 200 of the enemy dead on Cloyd's Mountain, but his company and regimental commanders offered no such numbers nor activity in their respective reports. Crook also reported that there must have been between 800 and 1,000 Confederates in killed and wounded, but that remark, however, although opined was incorrect. Crook continued by saying that several sources informed him that hundreds of Jenkins' men had deserted and that several Confederates had joined him, but that too was false.

Virginia Civil War Battlefields Map

Map of Battles in Virginia Saltworks Campaign

(Right) The battle on May 9, 1864, extended from Cloyd's Mountain to the Cloyd farm, and the fight has historically been known by both names. The total Union and Confederate men in killed was actually less than 200. The recently resurfaced historical marker is incorrect with its total killed of 800, and it would have been nice if the restoration money would have been applied toward a new marker with correct information. The erroneous total of more than 800 is most likely drawn from some of the initial after battle reports which contained false and exaggerated casualty numbers for the enemy.

McCausland, however, initially attempted to qualify and perhaps lessen the sting of the drubbing at Cloyd's Mountain by saying the enemy had an aggregated force of 9,000 men of all arms, while his force remained shy of 3,000. While he also stated Crook's losses at 600 but believed the total casualties to rise to at least 1,000, McCausland's assumption about the size of the force that had defeated him on that day was obviously incorrect, even if one included Averell's division (which hadn't engaged at Cloyd's), but his statement of Union losses of 600 should be considered an outstanding after battle report. While Crook gave an exact accounting for the total Confederates that his command had buried and captured, McCausland affirmed enemy troop strength and total casualties. Having viewed the disparities between all available tabulations for said battle, the final adjusted reports of opposing commands were found to be the most accurate. After the casualty reports were corrected and made final, neither side refuted the Confederate or Union casualty totals, but actually affirmed the reports in diaries and memoirs. But unfortunately, many authors and even historians currently apply the preliminary and exaggerated numbers for this action.

Preliminary reports, or after battle reports, are well-known for their inaccuracies. After a skirmish or battle, regardless of the outcome, each unit, whether artillery, cavalry, or infantry, would have roll or muster call to verify men present. Each company commander, having performed a head count, would ascertain his losses and then forward the casualty tabulation to his regimental commander, who will review each company's report and then tabulate a regimental casualty report and forward it to his commander, whether brigade or headquarters. The brigade will review the subordinate casualty numbers and also make its casualty report. A week later, the initial or preliminary report may be incorrect because missing-in-action, for example, may be changed from missing to killed or even prisoner. A wounded soldier listed in the first report, such as Brig. Gen. Albert Jenkins, may have been counted as wounded as well as captured, only to be listed as mortally wounded 10 days later. With all wars, morale is vital to the unit and to the nation, so casualty figures were known to be intentionally misstated. There are numerous casualty reports in the official records, having never been corrected, that are so grossly embellished, it's beyond farcical. Because of said circumstances, accurate casualty reports are not easy to obtain. There are other reasons, too, such as the end of war causing Confederates to destroy all their records lest they be captured and used as evidence in support of treason or war crimes.

Major Thomas L. Broun's recollection of the battle of Cloyd's Mountain, Richmond, VA. 1909. Broun served as volunteer aide on Colonel Beuhring Jones' staff, of the Sixtieth Virginia Regiment, and was assigned to duty in the most contested area on that bloody day. Although written some 45 years after the battle, the numbers and events are recalled clearly and support other accounts of this fight.

Broun restated the casualties as follows: "The Federal loss in this battle was 108 killed, 508 wounded and 72 captured or missing (688 Total); the Confederate loss 76 killed, 262 wounded and 200 captured or missing (538 Total). The casualties were mainly in the Thirty-sixth Virginia Infantry Regiment, Morgan's dismounted men, and the Forty-fifth Virginia Battalion. Crook's force was three times as great as that of the Confederate, under Jenkins and McCausland." See also Battle of Cloyd's Mountain: Union and Confederate Orders of Battle.


				Virginia Civil War Total Killed



	American Civil War Homepage