Bonekemper III, Edward H. “The Butcher’s Bill.” Civil War Times L, no. 2 (April 2011): 36-43.
In the latest Civil War Times, Edward H. Bonekemper III presents compelling argument about how Lee, not Grant, deserves nickname “butcher.” Putting the argument aside, Bonekemper’s figures are wrong. This is probably due to poor editing, but it is confusing to the Civil War buff and a new enthusiast may not catch it.
In two tables, Bonekemper presents figures for both Grant and Lee showing major battles with a column for Union casualties and another column for Confederate casualties. As I scanned down the list, they seemed off and when I got to Cold Harbor, I knew they were wrong. With 4,595 casualties on one side and 12,737 on the other, it is tough to mix those up.
As it turns out, titles of the columns were simply mixed up. I and one other reader already notified the Civil War Times through their message boards, but no one responded yet. So for anyone reading this, do what I did. Fix them!
