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Your quote is below:
My number of 30k includes: killed, wounded & missing (all causes from captured to unauthorized leave) In July & August Hospital Admissions for the AoT were just shy of 16,000 as wounded w/ killed about 2,000 w/ approx 10,000 missing from all causes. Less than 30k but not by a whole lot. I've been told Georgia Militia losses were not counted by Hood in an effort to lessen his casualties (I don't pretend to know if that is true but I wouldn't doubt it) and his casualty reports very rarely tabulate w/ the numbers reported as buried by his enemy. Blame Newton for my numbers... enough math to give anybody a screaming headache and if they're off I'd be more likely to blame me for doing a poor job of transcribing them from my shabby notes.
I think we have pretty well laid out our positions regarding Hood and I think we can respect each other's opinions. As I have said, I'm not into this to be Hood's defender. Rather it is about objectivity. Now as to casualties, I'm going to present a few numbers to consider. These come straight out of the Official Records. See below:
Effective strength of the Army of Tennessee July 10, 1864
Hardee's Corps - 14,226
Hood's Corps - 13,553
Stewart's Corps - 11,712
Effective total infantry & artillery - 39,491
Cavalry and artillery reserve 10,923
Army effective strength - 50,414
Source: OR 38, pt. 3, p. 679
Effective strength of the Army of Tennessee Aug. 31, 1864
Hardee's Corps - 12,148
Lee's Corps - 10,103
Stewart's Corps - 10,052
Effective total infantry & artillery - 32,303
Cavalry - 10,559
Army effective strength - 42,862
Source: OR 38, pt. 3, p. 682-683
Effective strength of the Army of Tennessee Sept. 30, 1864 (abbreviated report)
Infantry - 27,094
Cavalry - 10,543
Artillery - 2,766
Army effective strength - 40,403
Source: OR 38, pt. 3, p. 637
Effective strength of the Army of Tennessee Nov. 6, 1864
Lee's Corps - 8,632
Stewart's Corps - 8,708
Cheatham - 10,519
Cavalry (as of Nov 15) - approximately 5,000 (only Jackson's Division of about 2,000 remained from the cavalry which had been present around Atlanta as Wheeler's troops were detached from the army and Forrest joined it on Nov 15)
Army effective strength - 32,859
Source: OR 45, pt. 1, p. 678
Everyone needs to keep in mind these figures do not accurately show casualties, especially since many slightly wounded men returned to the ranks within days or weeks and many prisoners taken at Jonesboro were exchanged and rejoined the army in a short time. However, these number will illustrate one thing with absolute certainty. There is no way Hood suffered 30,000 genuine casualties after taking command. Sick men are not casualties and the Georgia Militia (regardless of whether their losses were counted or not) barely did any fighting.
Just before Hood took command the army numbered just over 50,000 men of all arms counted as effective. After Atlanta's fall there remained 40,403 men effective for duty. Unless I'm missing something, the organizational structure of army remained much the same in mid-Sept that it was in mid-July. There were no transfers to the army and no reinforcements.
So what were the casualties? Stated losses, as I said before, for the three major battles in July are around 14,000. Jonesboro amounts to approximately 4,000. Could Hood's total losses have exceeded 20,000? Perhaps. I'm not trying to be cute, but the numbers don't lie.
To be fair, Johnston was far more reliable with his numbers regarding the Atlanta Camapign than Hood. Hood's claim, page 228 of his memoirs, that Johnston suffered 25,000 casualties is ridiculous. In Johnston's own memoirs, page 577, the killed and wounded around Atlanta from July 4 to Sept 1 was reported to be 12,546. Add in prisoners and you're heading, maybe, toward 20,000.
Wiley Sword (him again??!!) tried this crazy number game in his book. He claimed on page 426 that Hood suffered 23,789 casualties during the Tennessee Campaign. Well that's funny because Hood had 32,589 men going into Tennessee and had nearly 20,000 when he came out. But I can tell you one of the ways in which Sword, whether purposely or carelessly, skewed the numbers. There were 3,800 Confederate wounded left at Franklin who were taken prisoner after Nashville and Sword counted them twice against Hood. He can't have it both ways. As far as casualties are concerned, either you're wounded or you're a prisoner, but you can't fall into both numerical categories.
As far as I'm concerned, that kind of blatant misrepresentation is no better than Hood sending letters behind Johnston's back.
Last edited on Wed Feb 27th, 2008 05:16 am by EricJacobson