Greensborough Patriot
October 16, 1862
Page 2
LOSSES
OF NORTH CAROLINA REGIMENTS
A correspondent of the Richmond
Whig, writing from Leesburg, N. C., says:
Some
time ago I saw a statement copied into the Whig from a Southern paper, in which
the North Carolina loss in the battles around Richmond was estimated at 2,600
killed and wounded. I knew at the time
that it was an error, and I desire to give now, as near as possible, the true
loss. I have before me a list of the
wounded in the different hospitals in Richmond.
This list numbers 3, 468. In this
list the names of but few of those who were taken to private houses, or who
remained in the brigade hospitals, are to be found. The killed probably exceeded a thousand, for
in twenty-one regiments that have reported through the papers, the killed is
put down at 510. North Carolina had
thirty-eight regiments and three batteries in the fight. It will not, therefore, be deemed extravagant
to estimate the total loss—killed and wounded—at 5,000, quite one third of the
entire loss sustained by the entire army , if the reports are true that have
been published in the papers of your city.
The 12th Regiment, Col. Wade, sustained probably the heaviest
proportionate loss, it being some 53 percent.
The loss, 61, of the 4th North Carolina at Seven Pines was
some 65 percent, possibly the greatest loss that any Confederate regiment has
borne in one battle during the war.
[Transcribed by Sharon Strout]
