Civil War also brought soaring costs,
poor economy, staggering casualties

Several things are common to all wars – soaring expenses, an unstable economy and staggering human casualties.

The Civil War was no exception.

In dollars and cents, the U.S. government estimated in January 1863 that the Civil War was costing it $2.5 million daily. A final official total estimate in 1879 amounted to $6,190,000,000.

The Confederacy spent perhaps $2,099,808,707 on the war.

By 1906, another $3.3 billion already had been spent by the U.S. government on Northerners’ pensions and other veterans’ benefits for former Federal soldiers. Southern states and private philanthropy provided benefits to the Confederate veterans. The amount spent on benefits eventually well exceeded the war’s original cost.

Inflation affected both Northern and Southern assets, but hit those of the Confederacy even harder. Northern currency fluctuated in value and, at its lowest point, $2.59 in Federal paper money equaled $1 in gold. The Confederate currency so declined in purchasing power that eventually $60-$70 equaled a gold dollar.

The physical devastation, almost all of it in the South, was enormous. Burned or plundered homes, pillaged countryside, untold losses in crops and farm animals, ruined buildings and bridges, devastated college campuses and neglected roads all left the South in ruins.

The approximately 10,455 military engagements plus naval clashes, accidents, suicides, sicknesses, murders and executions resulted in total casualties of 1,094,453. The Union lost 110,100 killed in action and mortally wounded, and another 224,580 to disease. The Confederates lost approximately 94,000 as a result of battle and another 164,000 to disease.

Even if one survived a wound, any projectile that hit bone in either an arm or a leg almost invariably necessitated amputation.

The best estimate of Federal army personnel wounded is 275,175 and naval personnel wounded, 2,226. Surviving Confederate records indicate 194,026 wounded.