# List of politicians killed in the American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States between the Union (states that remained loyal to the federal union, or "the North") and the Confederacy (states that voted to secede, or "the South"). While the total death toll of the war is not fully known, it is generally agreed that it resulted in at least 1,030,000 casualties (3 percent of the population), including about 620,000 soldier deaths—two-thirds by disease—and 50,000 civilians. Some experts, including Binghamton University historian J. David Hacker, estimate the number of soldier deaths was at least 750,000, and possibly as high as 850,000. The Civil War remains the deadliest military conflict in American history.
During the first year of the war, both sides had many more volunteers than they had the time or resources to effectively train. However, this initial enthusiasm began to wane and both sides enacted conscription laws to amass more volunteers. In April 1862, the Confederacy passed a draft law aimed at men aged 18 to 35, with exemptions for overseers of slaves, government officials, and clergymen. Three months later, the United States Congress authorized state militias to draft from local populations when they couldn't met their quotas with volunteers. In total, the Union Army had 2,200,000 soldiers, including 698,000 at their peak. The Confederacy had 750,000 to 1,000,000 soldiers, with a peak of 360,000.
This list contains notable holders of political office who died as a result of their personal involvement in the Civil War, from both the Union and Confederate sides. Many of the politicians listed perished directly in battle, while others died because of the result of injuries sustained on the battlefield or smaller skirmishes, or as a result of the difficult circumstances they experienced as a soldier or prisoner of war. A few others were casualties of personal accidents or violence unrelated to battle. In addition to the offices they held and their allegiance during the war, this list also contains, when known, the politician's political party, profession, and circumstances surrounding their death.

## Deaths

| Name | Date of death | Age | Political office(s) held | Party | Allegiance | Profession | Circumstances of death |
| Josiah M. Anderson | November 8, 1861 | 53 | Member of U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 3rd district (1849–51) Member of the Tennessee Senate (1843–45) Member of the Tennessee House of Representatives (1833–37) | Whig | Confederacy | Lawyer | Stabbed in Marion County, Tennessee by Union forces just after having made a pro-secession speech |
| William Waightstill Avery | July 3, 1864 | 48 | Member of the North Carolina Senate (1857–59) Member of the North Carolina House of Commons (1843–45; 1851–55) | Democrat | Confederacy | Lawyer | Died from wounds received in a skirmish with a party of Tennessee Unionists after a raid on Camp Vance by the Union's 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry |
| Edward Dickinson Baker | October 21, 1861 | 50 | United States Senator from Oregon (1860–61) Member of U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 6th district (1849–51) and Illinois's 7th district (1845–47) Member of the Illinois Senate (1840–44) Member of the Illinois House of Representatives (1837–40) | Republican | Union | Lawyer | Killed in the Battle of Ball's Bluff while leading a Union Army regiment |
| William Barksdale | July 3, 1863 | 41 | Member of U.S. House of Representatives from Mississippi's 3rd district (1855–61) and Mississippi's at-large district (1853–55) | Democrat | Confederacy | Lawyer & newspaper editor | Mortally wounded during the Battle of Gettysburg |
| Francis S. Bartow | July 21, 1861 | 44 | Member of the Georgia Senate (1845–47) Member of the Georgia House of Representatives (1841–45) | Whig | Confederacy | Lawyer | Killed at the First Battle of Manassas |
| Samuel W. Black | June 27, 1862 | 45 | Governor of Nebraska Territory (1859–61) | Democrat | Union | Lawyer & judge | Killed at the Battle of Gaines' Mill |
| Lawrence O'Bryan Branch | September 17, 1862 | 41 | Member of U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina's 4th district (1855–61) | Democrat | Confederacy | Lawyer | Killed at the Battle of Antietam |
| Edward Bullock | December 23, 1861 | 39 | Member of the Alabama Senate | Democrat | Confederacy | Lawyer | |
| Patrick E. Burke | May 20, 1864 | ~34 | Member of the Missouri House of Representatives (1855–57) | Democrat | Union | Lawyer | Died of gangrene three days after being shot in the leg at the Battle of Rome Cross Roads |
| Thomas Drummond | April 2, 1865 | ~32 | Member of the Iowa Senate (1860–62) Member of the Iowa House of Representatives (1858–60) | Republican | Union | Newspaper editor | Died of injuries sustained during the Battle of Five Forks |
| Edward F. W. Ellis | April 6, 1862 | 42 | Member of the California State Assembly (1851–52) | Whig | Union | Lawyer & school teacher | Killed at the Battle of Shiloh |
| Harvey W. Emery | October 13, 1862 | 34 | Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly (1861) | Republican | Union | Lawyer | Died of disease in second year of the war |
| Asa W. Farr | October 6, 1863 | 42 | Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly (1856–57) | Democrat | Union | Lawyer | Killed at the Battle of Baxter Springs |
| Daniel E. Frost | July 19, 1864 | 45 | Member of the West Virginia House of Delegates (1861–62) Member of the Virginia House of Delegates (1859–61; 1855–57) | Republican | Union | Journalist | Killed at the Battle of Cool Spring |
| John Gregg | October 7, 1864 | 36 | Deputy from Texas to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States (1861–62) | Democrat | Confederacy | Judge | Killed at the Battle of Darbytown and New Market Roads |
| Stephen F. Hale | July 18, 1862 | 46 | Deputy from Alabama to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States (1861–62) Member of the Alabama Senate (1857–61; 1843–45) | Democrat | Confederacy | Lawyer | Killed at the Battle of Gaines' Mill |
| Louis P. Harvey | April 19, 1862 | 41 | Governor of Wisconsin (1862) Secretary of State of Wisconsin (1860–62) Member of the Wisconsin Senate (1854–58) | Republican | Union | Newspaper editor | Drowned while trying to step from a tethered boat to a moving steamboat |
| Robert H. Hatton | May 31, 1862 | 35 | Member of U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 5th district (1859–61) Member of the Tennessee House of Representatives (1855–57) | Whig & Opposition | Confederacy | Lawyer | Killed at the Battle of Seven Pines |
| Philemon T. Herbert | July 23, 1864 | 38 | Member of U.S. House of Representatives from California's at-large district (1855–57) Member of the California State Assembly (1853–55) | Democrat | Confederacy | Lawyer | Died from injuries sustained at the Battle of Mansfield |
| John Edwin Holmes | May 8, 1863 | 53 | Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin (1848–50) Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly (1853–54) | Democrat (before 1856) Republican (after 1856) | Union | Lawyer & minister | Died from illness acquired while a prisoner at Libby Prison |
| James S. Jackson | October 8, 1862 | 39 | Member of U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky's 2nd district (1861) | Unionist | Union | Lawyer | Killed at the Battle of Perryville |
| Albert G. Jenkins | May 21, 1864 | 33 | Member of U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's 11th district (1857–61) | Democrat | Confederacy | Lawyer & planter | Died from injuries acquired at the Battle of Gettysburg and Battle of Cloyd's Mountain |
| George W. Johnson | April 8, 1862 | 50 | Confederate Governor of Kentucky (1861–62) Member of the Kentucky House of Representatives (1838–40) | Democrat | Confederacy | Lawyer & farmer | Killed at the Battle of Shiloh |
| Albert Sidney Johnston | April 6, 1862 | 59 | Secretary of War for the Republic of Texas (1838–40) | | Confederacy | Military officer | Killed at the Battle of Shiloh |
| William High Keim | May 18, 1862 | 48 | Surveyor General of Pennsylvania (1860–61) Member of U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 8th district (1858–59) Mayor of Reading, Pennsylvania (1848–49) | Whig | Union | Military officer | Died of typhus while serving as a general in the Union Army |
| Laurence M. Keitt | June 2, 1864 | 39 | Member of the Confederate Provisional Congress from South Carolina (1861–62) Member of U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina's 3rd district (1853–60) Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives (1848–53) | Democrat | Confederacy | Lawyer & planter | Killed at the Battle of Cold Harbor |
| John Basil Lamar | September 15, 1862 | 49 | Member of U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's at-large district (1843) Member of the Georgia House of Representatives (1837–38) | Democrat | Confederacy | Lawyer & planter | Died from injuries acquired at the Battle of Crampton's Gap |
| Thomas Marshall | 1861 | ~35 | Member of the Maine Senate (1859–60) Member of the Maine House of Representatives (1857–58) | Republican | Union | Merchant | Died from fever acquired while serving in the 7th Maine Infantry Regiment |
| Benjamin McCulloch | March 7, 1862 | 50 | Member of the Texas House of Representatives (1846) Member of the Republic of Texas House of Representatives (1839–42) | | Confederacy | Military officer | Killed at the Battle of Pea Ridge |
| Randal William McGavock | May 12, 1863 | 36 | Mayor of Nashville, Tennessee (1858–59) | | Confederacy | Lawyer & planter | Killed at the Battle of Raymond |
| David McKee | December 31, 1862 | 34 | Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly (1852–53) | Democrat (before 1855) Republican (after 1855) | Union | Lawyer & pioneer | Killed at the Battle of Stones River |
| Burton Millard | April 7, 1862 | ~34 | Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly (1858–59) | Republican | Union | Machinist | Killed while on duty in Lee's Mill Earthworks, Virginia |
| Sydenham Moore | August 20, 1862 | 45 | Member of U.S. House of Representatives from Alabama's 4th district (1857–61) | Democrat | Confederacy | Lawyer | Killed at Battle of Seven Pines |
| Isaac Parsons | April 24, 1862 | 48 | Member of Virginia House of Delegates (1854–57) | Democrat | Confederacy | Planter | Died during a skirmish with Union Army cavalry near Grassy Lick Run |
| Horace Patch | June 22, 1862 | 47 | Member of Wisconsin State Assembly (????–1852) | Democrat | Union | Lawyer | Died from injuries acquired at the Battle of Pittsburg Landing |
| George W. Pratt | September 11, 1862 | 32 | Member of New York State Senate (1853–54) | Democrat | Union | Leather manufacturer | Died from injuries acquired at the Second Battle of Bull Run |
| Samuel Allen Rice | July 6, 1864 | 36 | Attorney General of Iowa (1856–61) | Republican | Union | Lawyer | Died from injuries acquired at the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry |
| Francis M. Rotch | November 28, 1863 | 41 | Member of New York State Senate (1860–61) | | Union | Farmer | Died from fever contracted while serving in the Army of the Potomac |
| Thomas Hart Ruffin | October 17, 1863 | 43 | Member of U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina's 2nd district (1853–61) | Democrat | Confederacy | Lawyer | Died from injuries acquired at the Battle of Bristoe Station |
| Nicholas J. Rusch | September 22, 1864 | 42 | Lieutenant Governor of Iowa (1860–62) Member of the Iowa Senate (1858–60) | Republican | Union | Tutor & farmer | |
| Robert Eden Scott | May 3, 1862 | 54 | Member of the Virginia House of Delegates (1839–42; 1845–49; 1850–52) | Whig | Confederacy | Lawyer & planter | Killed by Union deserters when he confronted them for using his land |
| Henry Marchmore Shaw | February 1, 1864 | 44 | Member of U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina's 1st district (1853–55; 1857–59) | Democrat | Confederacy | Doctor | Shot while assembling other Confederate troops for an expedition |
| Eliakim Sherrill | July 4, 1863 | 50 | Member of U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 10th district (1847–49) Member of the New York Senate (1854–55) | Whig & Republican | Union | Tanner | Died from injuries acquired at the Battle of Gettysburg |
| Isaac Stevens | September 1, 1862 | 44 | Governor of Washington Territory (1853–57) Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from Washington Territory's at-large district (1857–61) | Democrat | Union | Military officer | Killed at the Battle of Chantilly |
| Richard Hanson Weightman | August 10, 1861 | 44 | Member of U.S. House of Representatives from New Mexico Territory's at-large district (1851–53) | Democrat | Confederacy | Military officer | Killed at the Battle of Wilson's Creek |
| William Sydney Wilson | November 3, 1862 | 45 | Member of the Mississippi Legislature (1858–59; 1860–61) | Democrat | Confederacy | | Died from injuries acquired at the Battle of Antietam |
| John Wimer | January 11, 1863 | 52 | Mayor of St. Louis, Missouri (1843–44; 1857–58) | Democrat | Confederacy | Blacksmith | Killed at the Battle of Hartville |
| David E. Wood | June 17, 1862 | 38 | Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly (1850–51) | Whig (before 1854) Republican (after 1854) | Union | Lawyer | Died of unspecified disease |
| Felix Zollicoffer | January 19, 1862 | 49 | Member of U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 8th district (1853–59) Member of the Tennessee Senate (1849–52) | Whig & American | Confederacy | Newspaper owner and editor | Killed at the Battle of Mill Springs |
| Abraham Lincoln | April 14, 1865 | 56 | 16th President of the United States (1861–1865) Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 7th district (1847–1849) Member of the Illinois House of Representatives from Sangamon County (1834–1842) | Whig (before 1856) Republican (after 1856) | Union | Lawyer | Shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth while watching the stage play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. |