Costliest Battles
The costliest land battles, measured by casualties (killed, wounded, captured, and missing) were:
| Battle | State | Date | Union |
Confederacy |
Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strength | Commander | Casualties | |||||||
| Battle of Gettysburg | Pennsylvania | 01863-07-01July 1-3, 1863July 1–3, 1863 | 93,921 | 71,699 | George G. Meade | Robert E. Lee | 23,055 | 23,231 | 46,286 |
| Battle of Chickamauga | Georgia | 01863-09-19September 19, 1863September 19–20, 1863 | 60,000 | 65,000 | William S. Rosecrans | Braxton Bragg | 16,170 | 18,454 | 34,624 |
| Battle of Spotsylvania Court House | Virginia | 01864-05-08May 8, 1864May 8–21, 1864 | 100,000 | 52,000 | Ulysses S. Grant | Robert E. Lee | 18,399 | 13,421 | 31,820 |
| Battle of Chancellorsville | Virginia | 01863-05-01May 1, 1863May 1–4, 1863 | 133,868 | 60,892 | Joseph Hooker | Robert E. Lee | 17,197 | 13,303 | 30,500 |
| Battle of the Wilderness | Virginia | 01864-05-05May 5, 1864May 5–7, 1864 | 101,895 | 61,025 | Ulysses S. Grant | Robert E. Lee | 17,666 | 11,125 | 28,791 |
| Battle of Stones River | Tennessee | 01862-12-31December 31, 1862December 31, 1862 – January 2, 1863 | 41,400 | 35,000 | William S. Rosecrans | Braxton Bragg | 12,906 | 11,739 | 24,645 |
| Battle of Shiloh | Tennessee | 01862-04-06April 6, 1862April 6–7, 1862 | 66,812 | 44,699 | Ulysses S. Grant | Albert Sidney Johnston | 13,047 | 10,699 | 23,746 |
| Battle of Antietam | Maryland | 01862-09-17September 17, 1862 | 75,500 | 38,000 | George B. McClellan | Robert E. Lee | 12,401 | 10,316 | 22,717 |
| 2nd Battle of Bull Run | Virginia | 01862-08-29August 29, 1862August 29–30, 1862 | 62,000 | 50,000 | John Pope | Robert E. Lee | 10,000 | 8,300 | 18,300 |
| Battle of Fredericksburg | Virginia | 01862-12-11December 11, 1862December 11–15, 1862 | 114,000 | 72,500 | Ambrose E. Burnside | Robert E. Lee | 12,653 | 5,377 | 18,030 |
| Siege of Port Hudson | Louisiana | 01863-05-22May 22, 1863May 22 – July 9, 1863 | 35,000 | 7,500 | Nathaniel P. Banks | Franklin Gardner | 10,000 | 7,500 | 17,500 |
| Battle of Cold Harbor | Virginia | 01864-05-31May 31, 1864May 31 – June 12, 1864 | 108,000 | 59,000 | Ulysses S. Grant | Robert E. Lee | 12,737 | 4,595 | 17,332 |
| 2nd Battle of Petersburg | Virginia | 01864-06-15June 15, 1864June 15–18, 1864 | 62,000 | 38,000 | Ulysses S. Grant | Robert E. Lee | 11,386 | 4,000 | 15,386 |
| Battle of Gaines's Mill | Virginia | 01862-06-27June 27, 1862 | 34,214 | 57,018 | George B. McClellan | Robert E. Lee | 6,837 | 7,993 | 14,830 |
| Battle of Missionary Ridge | Tennessee | 01863-11-25November 25, 1863 | 56,359 | 44,010 | Ulysses S. Grant | Braxton Bragg | 5,824 | 6,667 | 12,491 |
| Battle of Atlanta | Georgia | 01864-07-22July 22, 1864 | 34,863 | 40,438 | William T. Sherman | John Bell Hood | 3,641 | 8,499 | 12,140 |
| Battle of Seven Pines | Virginia | 01862-05-31May 31, 1862May 31 – June 1, 1862 | 34,000 | 39,000 | George B. McClellan | Joseph E. Johnston | 5,031 | 6,134 | 11,165 |
| Battle of Nashville | Tennessee | 01864-12-15December 15, 1864December 15–16, 1864 | 55,000 | 30,000 | George H. Thomas | John Bell Hood | 3,061 | 6,000 | 9,061 |
| Battle of Cedar Creek | Virginia | 01864-10-19October 19, 1864 | 31,610 | 21,102 | Philip H. Sheridan | Jubal A. Early | 5,764 | 2,910 | 8,674 |
| Battle of Opequon | Virginia | 01864-09-19September 19, 1864 | 40,000 | 12,000 | Philip H. Sheridan | Jubal A. Early | 5,020 | 3,610 | 8,630 |
| Battle of Franklin | Tennessee | 01864-11-30November 30, 1864 | 27,000 | 27,000 | John M. Schofield | John Bell Hood | 2,326 | 6,252 | 8,578 |
| Battle of Malvern Hill | Virginia | 01862-07-01July 1, 1862 | 54,000 | 55,000 | George B. McClellan | Robert E. Lee | 2,100 | 5,650 | 7,750 |
| 3rd Battle of Petersburg | Virginia | 01865-04-02April 2, 1865 | 76,113 | 58,400 | Ulysses S. Grant | Robert E. Lee | 3,500 | 4,250 | 7,750 |
| Battle of Perryville | Kentucky | 01862-10-08October 8, 1862 | 22,000 | 16,000 | Don Carlos Buell | Braxton Bragg | 4,276 | 3,401 | 7,677 |
| Battle of Glendale | Virginia | 01862-06-30June 30, 1862 | 40,000 | 45,000 | George B. McClellan | Robert E. Lee | 3,797 | 3,673 | 7,470 |
| 2nd Battle of Corinth | Mississippi | 01862-10-03October 3, 1862October 3–4, 1862 | 23,000 | 22,000 | William S. Rosecrans | Earl Van Dorn | 2,520 | 4,233 | 6,753 |
| Battle of Peachtree Creek | Georgia | 01864-07-20July 20, 1864 | 21,655 | 20,250 | George H. Thomas | John Bell Hood | 1,710 | 4,796 | 6,506 |
| Battle of Champion Hill | Mississippi | 01863-05-16May 16, 1863 | 32,000 | 22,000 | Ulysses S. Grant | John C. Pemberton | 2,457 | 3,840 | 6,297 |
| Battle of Richmond, Kentucky | Kentucky | 01862-08-29August 29, 1862August 29–30, 1862 | 6,500 | 6,850 | William "Bull" Nelson | Edmund K. Smith | 5,353 | 451 | 5,804 |
| Battle of the Crater | Virginia | 01864-07-30July 30, 1864 | 8,500 | 6,100 | Ulysses S. Grant | Robert E. Lee | 3,798 | 1,491 | 5,289 |
| Battle of Fort Stedman | Virginia | 01865-03-25March 25, 1865 | 14,898 | 10,000 | John G. Parke | John B. Gordon | 1,044 | 4,000 | 5,044 |
| Battle of South Mountain | Maryland | 01862-09-14September 14, 1862 | 28,000 | 18,000 | George B. McClellan | Robert E. Lee | 2,325 | 2,685 | 5,010 |
| 1st Battle of Bull Run | Virginia | 01861-07-21July 21, 1861 | 35,000 | 34,000 | Irvin McDowell | P.G.T. Beauregard | 2,896 | 1,982 | 4,878 |
Read more about this topic: List Of American Civil War Battles
Famous quotes containing the words costliest and/or battles:
“Man, in the ideal, is so noble and so sparkling, such a grand and glowing creature, that over any ignominious blemish in him all his fellows should run to throw their costliest robes.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“To compose our character is our duty, not to compose books, and to win, not battles and provinces, but order and tranquillity in our conduct.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)