Livermore (1900) battle data: battle list

name:livermore_battles path:livermore_battles.csv format:csv

Battle data from Livermore (1900) Number and Losses in the Civil War in America, 1861-1865.

Livermore discusses his methodology on pp. 63-77. The sample of battles he uses is all battles in which either side had losses, killed wounded, greater than 1,000 [p. 64],

In the endeavor to establish this ratio, the writer has gathered the number engaged and the number killed and wounded in each battle in which 1000 or more were hit on either side …

Livermore is concerned with determining the actual number of troops engaged in battle, i.e. those that actually participated. The majority of the book is devoted to the calculations of the values of the strengths of the forces in each battle.

When discussing the categorization of battles into victories and defeats, Livermore writes,

For further comparison of losses under similar conditions, the 63 battles of Table B may be classified as follows, although discrimination must be made between those which are styled defeats, because some are ranged under this head merely because the field was abandoned; when considered tactically, the retreating army was successful in the battle itself.

Some quirks of the data:

• The Appomattox Campaign is treated as a single battle: Appomattox Campaign, March 29-April 9, 1865
• There is an entry for the full Seven Days Battles (June 25-July 1, 1862) as well as separate entries for
  • Mechanicsville, June 26, 1862
  • Gaines’s Mill, June 27, 1862
  • Peach Orchard, Savage Station, June 29, 1862. White Oak Swamp, Glendale, June 30, 1862. Malvern Hill, July 1, 1862
• There are battles for the Assaults on Port Hudson (May 27 and June 14, 1863), but no entry for the entire Siege of Port Hudson. This means that these battles are coded as Confederate victories since the Union failed in these assaults, even though it won the siege.
• There is a battle for the Assault on Vicksburg (May 22, 1863), but no entry for the entire Siege. This means that Vicksburg is coded as a Confederate victory since the Union failed in the assault, even though it won the siege.
• There are separate battles for different days of Spottsylvania (May 10, 12, 1864)
• There is a single battle for the Atlanta Campaign, May, 1864.

Sources: [Livermore1900], [ACAA1994]

Schema

battle_id	integer	battle_id
battle_name	string	Battle name
page	integer	page
start_date	date	Start date
end_date	date	End date
attacker	string	attacker
result	string	result
assault_fortified	string	Assault on fortified lines
assault_outcome	string	Assault outcome
union_result	string	Union result
confed_result	string	Confederate result
state	string	State
theater	string	Theater

battle_id

title:battle_id type:integer format:default

battle_name

title:Battle name type:string format:default

page

title:page type:integer format:default

Page in Livermore (1900) in which the battle description appears.

start_date

title:Start date type:date format:default

end_date

title:End date type:date format:default

attacker

title:

attacker

type:

string

format:

default

constraints:

enum:[‘US’, ‘Confederate’]

Was the Confederate or the US the attacker in the battle? This did not appear directly in Livermore (1900), but is from the PAR database.

Sources: [Livermore1900], [ACAA1994]

result

title:

result

type:

string

format:

default

constraints:

enum:[‘US’, ‘Confederate’]

Confederate or Union victory. This did not appear directly in Livermore (1900), but is from the PAR database.

Sources: [Livermore1900], [ACAA1994]

assault_fortified

title:

Assault on fortified lines

type:

string

format:

default

constraints:

enum:[‘US’, ‘Confederate’]

“Confederate” if it was a Confederate assault on Union fortified lines; “US” if it was a Union assault on Confederate fortified lines; missing if it was not an assault on foritied lines. This comes from the Table “Assaults on Fortified Lines” on p. 75.

assault_outcome

title:

Assault outcome

type:

string

format:

default

constraints:

enum:[‘Failure’, ‘Success’, ‘Partial Success’]

Assault outcome; missing if the battle was not an assault. This comes from the Table “Assaults on Fortified Lines” on p. 75.

union_result

title:

Union result

type:

string

format:

default

constraints:

enum:[‘Defeat’, ‘Retired’, ‘Rout’, ‘Victory’]

Union result for the battle. Seperate Union and Confederate results are given because the results in the tables are not symmetric. In some cases, one side is missing. In some cases, even if side has a victory, the other side can have a loss or a rout. This comes from the tables “Routs”, “Victories”, and “Battles Fought to Cover a Prearranged Movement, Pursuing which the Army Retired after Repelling Attack”, on p. 76–77.

confed_result

title:

Confederate result

type:

string

format:

default

constraints:

enum:[‘Defeat’, ‘Retired’, ‘Rout’, ‘Victory’]

Confederate result of the battle This comes from the tables “Routs”, “Victories”, and “Battles Fought to Cover a Prearranged Movement, Pursuing which the Army Retired after Repelling Attack”, on p. 76–77.

state

title:

State

type:

string

format:

default

constraints:

minLength:2 maxLength:2 pattern:[A-Z][A-Z]

Two-letter abbreviation of the state in which the battle was fought.

theater

title:

Theater

type:

string

format:

default

constraints:

enum:[‘MW’, ‘ME’, ‘LS’, ‘TM’]

CWSAC theater of the battle. See CWSS theaters.

Sources: [Livermore1900], [ACAA1994]