In the Civil War, how many Americans were killed? DREW GILPIN FAUST (DGF): There’s been research since my book came out that indicates a higher death toll than the one I suggested in 2008. I talk about 620,000 dead. The number that now is agreed upon by epidemiologists and analysts and demographers is more like 750,000. So it was about 2.5 percent of the population. That would be the equivalent of some seven million people today. Imagine if we had a war in which we had that kind of death toll.
