United States military casualties of war

The following is a tabulation of United States military casualties of war.

Overview

Note: "Total casualties" includes wounded, combat and non-combat deaths but not missing in action. "Deaths – other" includes all non-combat deaths including those from bombing, massacres, disease, suicide, and murder.

War or conflict Date Total U.S. deaths Wounded Total U.S. casualties
 Missing Sources and notes Deaths as percentage of total population
Combat Other Total
American Revolutionary War 1775–1783 8,000 23,000 31,000 35,000 66,000
Northwest Indian War 1785–1796 1,056+ 1,056+ 825+ 1,881+ [1][2][3]
Quasi-War 1798–1800 20 494[4] 514 42 556 [4][5]
First Barbary War 1801–1805 35 39 74 64 138 [6][7]: 25–27 [8][9]
Other actions against pirates 1800–1900 36 158+[7]: 42  194+ 100+ 294+ [5][10][11][b]
Chesapeake–Leopard affair 1807 3 0 3 18 21 [5]
War of 1812 1812–1815 2,260 12,740~ 15,000~ 4,505 20,000~ [12] 0.21%
Nuku Hiva Campaign 1813–1814 5 0 5 11 16 [7]: 34–38 
Creek War 1813–1814 575 575 [13]
Second Barbary War 1815 4 134[14] 138~ 10 148 [15]
First Seminole War 1817–1818 47 0 47 36 83 [16]
First Sumatran expedition 1832 2 2 11 13 [5]
Black Hawk War 1832 47 258[17][18] 305 85 390 [19]
Second Seminole War 1835–1842 328 1,207 1,535 1,535
Mexican–American War 1846–1848 1,733 11,550 13,283 4,152 17,435 [20] 0.06%
Cayuse War 1847–1856 40 1 41 74 115 [21]
Rogue River Wars 1851–1856 190 6 196 293 489 [22]
Yakima War 1855–1856 32 2 34 92 126 [23]
Third Seminole War 1855–1858 26 26 27 53 [24]
Second Opium War 1856–1860 12 12 39 51 [7]
Coeur d'Alene War 1858 36 36 60 96 [25]
American Civil War: total 1861–1865 214,938[26] 450,000~ 655,000~ [c][27] 2.1%
American Civil War: Union casualties 140,414[26] 224,097 364,511 281,881 646,392 [28]
American Civil War: Confederate casualties 94,000[29] 195,000+ 290,000+ 194,026 483,026
Dakota War of 1862 1862 70–113 70–113 150 220–263 [30][31][32]
Shimonoseki campaign 1863 4–5[5][33] 0 4–5 6[5] 10 [5][33]
Snake War 1864–1868 30 30 128 158 [23]
American Indian Wars 1865–1898 919 919~ 1,025 1,944 [20]
Red Cloud's War 1866–1868 126 126 100 226 [34][35][36]
United States expedition to Korea 1871 3 3 9 12 [37]
Modoc War 1872–1873 56 56 88 144 [38][39]
Great Sioux War 1875–1877 314 314 211 525 [40][41]
Nez Perce War 1877 134 134 157 291 [42][43]
Bannock War 1878 12 0 12 22 34 [44][45]
Ute War 1879 15 0 15 52 67 [44][46]
Sheepeater Indian War 1879 1 1 10 11 [44]
Samoan crisis 1887–1889 0 62 62 62 [47]
Ghost Dance War 1890–1891 35 35 64 99 [48][49]
Battle of Sugar Point 1898 7 0 7 16 23 [50]
Spanish–American War 1898 385 2,061 2,446 1,622 4,068 [20]
Philippine–American War 1898–1913 1,020 3,176 4,196 2,930 7,126 [20]
Boxer Rebellion 1900–1901 68 63 131 204 335 [51]
Santo Domingo Affair 1904 1 0 1 1 2 [5]
United States occupation of Nicaragua 1910, 1912–1925, 1927–1933 90 69 159 290 449 [52][53][54]
Mexican Revolution 1914–1919 120 61 181 319 500 [55]
United States occupation of Haiti 1915–1934 10 138 148 26+ 184+ [5][56]
World War I 1914–1918 53,402 63,114 116,516 204,002 320,518 3,350 [20][d] 0.11%
North Russia intervention: total 1918–1920 424 424 [57]
North Russia intervention: American Expeditionary Force, Siberia casualties 1918–1920 160 168 328 52+ 380+ [7]: 228 
Warlord Era
Chinese Civil War		 1918; 1921; 1926–1927; 1930; 1937 5 78 83 [52]
World War II 1939–1945 291,557 113,842 405,399 670,846 1,076,245 72,491 [20]See Note DA below 0.39%
Greek Civil War 1944–1949 1 5 6 6 [58]
Chinese Civil War 1945–1950 14 150 164 51 215 [58]
Berlin Blockade 1948–1949 31 31 31 [59]
Korean War 1950–1953 33,686 2,830 36,516 92,134 128,650 7,564 See Note E below
Cold War with the Soviet Union 1947–1991 32 32 12 44 126 [52]
Cold War with China 1950–1972 16 16 16 [52]
Vietnam War 1955–1975 47,434 10,786 58,220 153,303 211,454 1,584 [20][60][61]
1958 Lebanon crisis 1958 1 5 6 1+ 7+ [62]
Bay of Pigs Invasion 1961 5 20 [63] 25 [64] 25 [65]
Cuban Missile Crisis 1962 1 19 20 20 [58]
Dominican Civil War 1965–1966 27 20 47 283 330 [52][58][66]
Korean DMZ Conflict 1966-1969 75 6 81 111 192
USS Liberty incident 1967 0 34 34 171 205
Operation Eagle Claw 1980 0 8 8 4 12 [67]
Salvadoran Civil War 1980–1992 22 15 37 35 72 [68][69][70][71]
1982 Lebanon War 1982–1984 256 10 266 169 435 [72]
Operation Earnest Will 1987–1988 39 0 39 31 100
United States invasion of Grenada 1983 18 1 19 119 138 [72]
1986 United States bombing of Libya 1986 2 0 2 0 1 [73]
United States invasion of Panama 1989 23 40 324 364 [72]
Gulf War 1990–1991 149 145 294 849 1,143 2[74] [75]
Operation Provide Comfort 1991–1996 1 18 19 4 23 [76][77]
Operation Restore Hope 1992–1993 29 14 43 153 196 [72]
Operation Uphold Democracy 1994–1995 1 3 4 3 7 [72]
Colombian conflict 1994–present 0 8[78][79] 8 8 [80]
Bosnian War 1992–1995 1 11 12 12 [81]
Kosovo War 1998–1999 4 14 18 N/A 18+ [82]
War in Afghanistan 2001-2021 1,910 [83] 415[84][83] 2,325 20,093[83] 22,311 [f][83][84]
Iraq War 2003–2011 3,519 973 4,492 32,222 36,710 3 [83]
Operation Inherent Resolve 2014–present 16 60 76 81 157 [83]
Raid on Yakla 2017 1 1 3 4 [85]
Total 1775–2019 666,441+ 673,929+ 1,354,664+ 1,498,240+ 2,852,901+ 40,031+

Wars ranked by U.S. battle deaths
RankWarYearsDeaths
1World War II1941–1945291,557
2American Civil War1861–1865214,938
3World War I1917–191853,402
4Vietnam War1955–197547,434
5Korean War1950–195333,686
6American Revolutionary War1775–17838,000
7Iraq War2003–20114,424
8War of 18121812–18152,260
9War in Afghanistan2001–20211,833
10Mexican–American War1846–18481,733
U.S. combat deaths by war
World War II
 
 291,557
American Civil War
 
 214,938
World War I
 
 53,402
Vietnam War
 
 47,434
Korean War
 
 33,686
American Revolutionary War
 
 8,000
Iraq War
 
 3,836
War of 1812
 
 2,260
War in Afghanistan
 
 1,833
Mexican American War
 
 1,733

Wars ranked by total number of U.S. military deaths
RankWarYearsDeathsDeaths per dayU.S. population in
first year of war		Deaths as percentage
of population
1American Civil War1861–1865655,000 (est.)(U.S./Confederate)[86]44931,443,0002.083% (1860)
2World War II1941–1945405,399297133,402,0000.307% (1940)
3World War I1917–1918116,516200103,268,0000.110% (1920)
4Vietnam War1961–197558,20911179,323,1750.032% (1970)
5Korean War1950–195336,57430151,325,0000.024% (1950)
6American Revolutionary War1775–178325,000112,500,0001.00% (1780)
7War of 18121812–181515,000158,000,0000.207% (1810)
8Mexican–American War1846–184813,2832921,406,0000.057% (1850)
9Iraq War2003–20114,5762294,043,0000.002% (2010)
10Philippine–American War1899–19024,1963.872,129,0010.006% (1900)
11War in Afghanistan2001–20212,4320.4294,043,0000.001% (2010)
12Spanish–American War18982,2469.662,022,2500.004% (1890)

"Deaths per day" is the total number of Americans killed in military service, divided by the number of days between the commencement and end of hostilities. "Deaths per population" is the total number of deaths in military service, divided by the U.S. population of the year indicated.

Notes

a. ^ Revolutionary War: All figures from the Revolutionary War are rounded estimates. Commonly cited casualty figures provided by the Department of Defense are 4,435 killed and 6,188 wounded, although the original government report that generated these numbers warned that the totals were incomplete and far too low.[87] In 1974, historian Howard Peckham and a team of researchers came up with a total of 6,824 killed in action and 8,445 wounded. Because of incomplete records, Peckham estimated that this new total number of killed in action was still about 1,000 too low.[88] Military historian John Shy subsequently estimated the total killed in action at 8,000, and argued that the number of wounded was probably far higher, about 25,000.[89] The "other" deaths are primarily from disease, including prisoners who died on British prison ships.

b. ^ Other actions against pirates: Includes actions fought in the West Indies, the Greek isles, off of Louisiana, China and Vietnam. Other deaths resulted from disease and accidents.

c. ^ Civil War: All Union casualty figures, and Confederate killed in action, from The Oxford Companion to American Military History except where noted (NPS figures).[20] estimate of total Confederate dead from James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom (Oxford University Press, 1988), 854. Newer estimates place the total death toll at 650,000 to 850,000.[86] 148 of the Union dead were U.S. Marines.[90][91]
ca. ^ Civil War April 2, 2012, Doctor David Hacker after extensive research offered new casualty rates higher by 20%; his work has been accepted by the academic community and is represented here.

d. ^ World War I figures include expeditions in North Russia and Siberia. See also World War I casualties

da.^ World War II Note: as of March 31, 1946, there were an estimated 286,959 dead of whom 246,492 were identified; of 40,467 who were unidentified 18,641 were located {10,986 reposed in military cemeteries and 7,655 in isolated graves} and 21,826 were reported not located. As of April 6, 1946, there were 539 American Military Cemeteries which contained 241,500 dead. Note the American Battle Monuments Commission database for the World War II reports that in 18 ABMC Cemeteries total of 93,238 buried and 78,979 missing and that "The World War II database on this web site contains the names of those buried at our cemeteries, or listed as Missing in Action, buried or lost at sea. It does not contain the names of the 233,174 Americans returned to the United States for burial..." Similarly, the ABMC Records do not cover inter-war deaths such as the Port Chicago disaster in which 320 died. As of June 2018 total of US World War II casualties listed as MIA is 72,823[92]

e. ^ Korean War: Note:[20] gives Dead as 33,746 and Wounded as 103, 284 and MIA as 8,177. The American Battle Monuments Commission database for the Korean War reports that "The Department of Defense reports that 54,246 American service men and women lost their lives during the Korean War. This includes all losses worldwide. Since the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., honors all U.S. Military who lost their lives during the War, we have tried to obtain the names of those who died in other areas besides Korea during the period June 27, 1950, to July 27, 1954, one year after the Korean Armistice...". {For a breakdown of Worldwide casualties of 54,246 see The Korean War educator at [93] gives figures as In-theatre/non theater} After their retreat in 1950, dead Marines and soldiers were buried at a temporary gravesite near Hungnam, North Korea. During "Operation Glory" which occurred from July to November 1954 the dead of each side were exchanged; remains of 4,167 US soldiers/Marines were exchanged for 13,528 North Korean/Chinese dead.[94] After "Operation Glory" 416 Korean War "unknowns" were buried in the Punchbowl Cemetery. According to a DPMO white paper.[95] 1,394 names were also transmitted during "Operation Glory" from the Chinese and North Koreans, of whom 858 names proved to be correct; of the 4,167 returned remains were found to be 4,219 individuals of whom 2,944 were found to be Americans of whom all but 416 were identified by name. Of 239 Korean War unaccounted for: 186 not associated with Punchbowl unknowns (176 were identified and of the remaining 10 cases 4 were non-Americans of Asiatic descent; one was British; 3 were identified and 2 cases unconfirmed); Of 10 Korean War "Punchbowl Unknowns" 6 were identified. The W.A. Johnson listing of 496 POWs – including 25 civilians[96] – who died in North Korea can be found here and there[97]

Listed as MIA: 7,683[92]

ea. ^ Cold War – Korea and Vietnam and Middle East-additional US Casualties:

  • North Korea {Cold War} 1959: 1968–69; 1976; 1984 killed 41; Wounded 5; 82 captured/released.[98]
  • USS Liberty incident 1967 killed 34; Wounded 173 by Israeli armed forces
  • Vietnam War prior to 1964-US Casualties were Laos – 2 killed in 1954; and Vietnam 1946–1954 – 2 killed see;[99]

f. ^ Iraq War. See also Casualties of the Iraq War. Sources: .[100]

g. ^ Afghanistan. Casualties include those that occurred in Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guantanamo Bay (Cuba), Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Philippines, Seychelles, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Yemen.

See also

References
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