First Casualties Of The War

FIRST CASUALTIES OF THE WAR

By: Mike Thomas

There are several “First Casualty” claims from North and South. Each death raised passions while showing the dangers of military service other than peacetime conditions. A sampling of the different claims does exciting reading and provides various perspectives. Several of the men below have markers noting the significance of their death.

Union Claims:

Private Daniel Hough, 1st U.S. Artillery: Killed at Fort Sumter during the planned 100-gun salute following the fort’s surrender to Confederate forces in Charleston. As he rammed a powder charge into a gun, sparks within the barrel caused it to ignite prematurely, and the resulting explosion killed him almost instantly. Claim: First casualty of the War.

Private Edward Galloway, 1st U.S. Artillery: Badly injured in the same explosion that killed Private Daniel Hough. Taken to a Charleston hospital, he lingered a week before death. Claim: The first man to be mortally wounded in the War.

Private Luther C. Ladd, 6th Massachusetts Volunteer Militia: Killed by Southern sympathizers, all civilians, in the Baltimore riot April 19, 1861. Ladd was the first of 4 Militia members to die that day. Eleven civilians died as well & many on each side were wounded. Claim: First man to die in hostilities.

Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth, 11th New York Volunteer Infantry: Killed by hotel proprietor in Alexandria, VA after removing the Confederate flag from his hotel when U.S. troops invaded Virginia. Claim: First U.S. officer killed in the War.

Confederate Claims:

Private Henry L. Wyatt, 1st North Carolina Infantry: Killed in Battle of Big Bethel June 10, 1861. Claim: First man to die in battle.

Captain John Q. Marr, Warrenton Rifles, Virginia Infantry: Killed in a night encounter with Union cavalry scouts June 1, 1861, in Fairfax, VA. Claim: 1st Confederate soldier killed by a Union soldier in combat.

Chaplain Noble Leslie Devotie, C.S.A.: A Baptist minister, Devotie drowned after a misstep while boarding a steamer on February 12, 1861. Claim: First Alabama soldier to lose life in the War.

Private Robert L. Holmes, Carolina Light Infantry (Charleston Militia): Shot accidentally the night of January 7, 1861, at Castle Pinckney in Charleston by a sentinel raising his musket to challenge the approaching Holmes. Claim: The first casualty of the War on either side.