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]