Confederate Dead

This information comes from the Library of Virginia database of Virginia Military Dead. It will take me some time to compile the separate West Virginia county information, so if you need to you can just go to the original source. You might also enjoy reading this article about Edwin Ray from the Virginian-Pilot.

The database currently lists 32,751 men, which includes 3,557 Union dead leaving 29,194 Confederate dead. 14,884  have been "determined" by county. Of these "determined" men 1,840 are from West Virginia, which represents 12.4%. There are 14,310 men in the "undetermined" category, and the probability is that only a small number will ever be identified by county. So taking a statistical sampling approach to determine the approximate number of West Virginians who died in Confederate service that number would be about 3624 men. This is probably a low estimate. If you see the short county list below it only has 3 men from Wirt County as having died in service. Hardesty's history of Wirt County states that at least 25 men from Wirt died in Confederate service.

The number of men "determined" by each county is as follows-

Barbour 43, Berkeley 36, Boone 24, Braxton 71, Brooke 1, Cabell 18, Calhoun 17, Clay 2, Doddridge 1, Fayette 70, Gilmer 20, Greenbrier 200, Hampshire 93, Hancock 1, Hardy 79, Harrison 35, Jackson 43, Jefferson 50, Kanawha 83, Lewis 19, Lincoln 2, Logan 32, Marion 18, Mason 4, McDowell 3, Mercer 134, Monongalia 7, Monroe 154, Morgan 1, Nicholas 37, Ohio 13, Pendleton 148, Pocahontas 95, Preston 3, Putnam 30, Raleigh 36, Randolph 63, Ritchie 11, Roane 24, Summers 3, Taylor 16, Tucker 7, Tyler 1, Upshur 23, Wayne 22, Webster 18, Wetzel 2, Wirt 3, Wood 13, Wyoming 11

David E. Johnston, in his "A History of Middle New River Settlements and Contiguous Territory" (pg. 189), stated that Mercer County had given about 1500 men to Confederate service "of whom nearly 40 per cent. were lost.", meaning a loss just for Mercer of nearly 600 men.

I have just recently noticed on the Library of Virginia webpage that they are no longer updating the records, so it looks like the "undetermined" will stay that way. However, I will add those records that I have been able to attribute to West Virginia as an "addendum" once I have finished these listings.