In 1860 there were a mere 16,000 soldiers in the U.S. Army--and, of course, no Confederate Army at all. By 1865, three million men had served in one army or the other. Given that staggering increase in such a short time, it's no surprise that whatever systems there might have been for keeping track of numbers of casualties would be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of death and injury. As a result, nobody really knows how many men were killed in the Civil War. The textbook answer up to now--618,222--comes from an estimate made in 1900 and was based on fairly primitive statistical methods.
The New York Times reports that a demographic historian, J. David Hacker from Binghamton University, has combed through 19th Century census data and come up with a number that's more than 20% higher. His estimate seems reliable to credible Civil War authorities; if he's right, 750,000 soldiers (and maybe, he allows, as many as 850,000) died during the war from wounds, infection and disease inflicted by the war. "Wars have profound economic, demographic and social costs,” the Times quotes Hacker as saying. “We’re seeing at least 37,000 more widows here, and 90,000 more orphans. That’s a profound social impact, and it’s our duty to get it right.”
The Times article, from which the graphic above is taken, is fascinating. Go read it.
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