This is a summary of General Officers in service of the United States of America who died during the war. Not all died on the battlefield. Some died later of wounds and others died of ill health or accidents. Unlike the Confederate records it is more difficult to identify a General who died of non-combat causes such as disease or other injuries. Union Generals were not given a state of commission in the records that I checked

The listing is arranged according to the known date of death. The term. KIA indicates that he was killed in action during the battle. WIA indicates that he was wounded during a battle and later died of the wounds suffered. POW indicates that the general was a POW either at the time of his death or at an earlier date. Many Generals died later of ill heath which in some cases were a result of being a POW even though they may have been exchanged.

The Deadliest Year was 23 Generals died in 1864. The Deadliest Calendar Month was May. Sixteen Generals died during that month. The Breakdown by month is:

January = 2
February = 0
March = 2
April = 4
May = 9
June = 4
July = 9
August = 8
September = 10
October = 11
November = 3
December = 6

The Deadliest Specific Month was July 1863 when eight Generals died. Other significant months (five or more) were: September 1862 = 6; October 1864 = 5; and May 1864 = 5.

The Union used the practice of Brevet (temporary) promotions as a method of rewarding acts of bravery on the battlefield. This can clearly be seen by noting that ninety-three future Generals were wounded while still a Captain, Major, Lt Colonel or Colonel. These were temporary and if Congress failed to make the promotion permanent, then the General may revert back to a Colonel or in a few cases Captain at the end of the ‘term’ of promotion. This may have had the benefit of rewarding continued acts of bravery by frequently promoting certain officers. In many cases a Colonel was killed in a battle and later posthumously be promoted for his actions in that engagement. This leads to some confusion as officers who are listed on the Union rolls, as Generals actually were only Colonels when the battle occurred in which they died. So due to the confusion some researchers may list other officers, which I do not have as general Officers on my list.

Prior to being promoted to Brigadier General 93 future Generals had been WIA at least once and several suffered multiple wounds. Within the first month of being promoted to BG 11 Generals were WIA or KIA. Including those of the first month, within the first three months of promotion 35 Generals had become casualties during a battle. A further 22 Generals had been shot between four and six months of being promoted in rank. Within the first year of being promoted to Brigadier General or further promoted to Major General a total 82 Generals had become casualties during a battle. Finally after being ‘in rank’ for at least one year without being shot, 31 additional Generals became casualties at some point after the one year mark of being ‘in rank’.

General Anecdotes

During the course of my research I encountered a number of interesting facts about various Generals. Here are a few of the situations of note:

WF Bartlett was WIA four times and lost a leg in 1862. He was captured at the ‘battle of the Crater’ (Petersburg) in 1864 when his horse was killed and his cork replacement leg was shot in two.

Other Generals but not all who lost limbs were HE Paine – leg, B.R Pierce – leg, Sickles- right leg, W. Swayze- right leg, Martin Hardin- arm, F. Fessenden- leg.

James B. Ricketts was WIA six times including four in the same battle. George J. Stannard was WIA four times as were Charles T Campbell, Martin Hardin and F Fressenden. Eli Long and G. Pennypacker were WIA five times. Joshua L. Chamberlain, Abram Duryee and Ranald S MacKenzie were WIA six times. H.A. Barnum, Henry Baxter, S.S. Carroll, Eugene A. Carr, N.A. Miles, T.J. Lucas and Edward W. Hincks were WIA three times.

Shooting Stars and Falling Stars Generals Who Died in the American Civil War Union Army

Introduction
1861
1862
1863
1864
1865