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The American Civil War in Alabama
Welcome to The Digital Alabama Guide to The American Civil War in Alabama. This site endeavors to continue adding photographs, original illustrations and other content related to Civil War activities in Alabama. We strive to provide invaluable resources and are committed to providing you a safe and enjoyable browsing experience.
Alabama soldiers fought in hundreds of battles; the state’s losses at Gettysburg were 1,750 dead plus even more captured or wounded; the famed “Alabama Brigade” took 781 casualties.
Governor Lewis E. Parsons in July 1861 made a preliminary estimate of losses. Nearly all the white men served, some 122,000 he said, of whom 35,000 died in the war and another 30,000 were seriously disabled.
The next year Governor Robert M. Patton estimated that 20,000 veterans had returned home permanently disabled, and there were 20,000 widows and 60,000 orphans.
With cotton prices low, the value of farms shrank, from $176 million in 1860 to only $64 million in 1870. The livestock supply shrank too, as the number of horses fell from 127,000 to 80,000, and mules 111,000 to 76.000. The overall population remained the same—the growth that might have been expected neutralized by death and emigration.
Alabama was not the scene of any significant military operations during the Civil War, yet it contributed about 120,000 men to the Confederate service, practically all the white population capable of bearing arms. Most were recruited locally and served with men they knew, which built morale and strengthened ties to home.
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