The Top 10 Bloodiest Battles in American History

Got bored the other day since I'm off for the whole week and started doing some basic research on this topic. The following list is based on TOTAL CASUALTIES and not just fatalities, though fatality numbers are included to give a sense of scale:

10. The Battle of Chancellorsville (April 30-May 6, 1863)

Total Casualties: 30,051 (3,271 killed in action)

Considered by many to be Confederate General Robert E. Lee's greatest victory, upon learning of the outcome President Abraham Lincoln is supposed to have exclaimed: "My God, what will the country say?!"

9. The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House (May 8-21, 1864)

Total Casualties: 31,086 (4,240 killed in action)

Despite the heavy losses sustained by both Confederate and Union forces, Round Two of "Grant vs. Lee" ended in a bloody stalemate with both armies redeploying further south to seek better outcomes elsewhere.

8. The Battle of Chickamauga (September 18-20, 1863)

Total Casualties: 34,264 (3,969 killed in action)

The bloodiest battle to be fought in the Western Theater of the American Civil War was also the last major victory by the Confederates in that theater of the conflict. This was also the only major victory on the battlefield for Confederate General Braxton Bragg.

7. The Battle of Luzon (January 9-August 15, 1945)

Total Casualties: 40,565 (8,436 killed in action)

General Douglas MacArthur's return to the Philippines was a bloody affair which lasted for over nine months and saw the destruction of the island's only major city (Manila) as well as the deaths of tens of thousands of Filipino civilians.

6. The Battle of Okinawa (April 1-June 22, 1945)

Total Casualties: ~50,000 (~12,500 killed in action)

The bloodiest battle of the Second World War in the Pacific Theater saw the Army, Navy, and Marines capturing this vital land mass from the Japanese in the largest combined land, sea, and air battle in human history.

5. The Battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863)

Total Casualties: 51,049 (7,863 killed in action)

The bloodiest battle ever fought in North America was also one of the American Civil War's major turning points with Major General George G. Meade scoring the first major victory for the Union over the forces of General Robert E. Lee.

4. The Battle of Hürtgen Forest (September 19-December 16, 1944)

Total Casualties ~55,000 (unknown number killed in action)

The only tactical defeat suffered by U.S. Army forces in Europe during the Second World War. The U.S. First Army battered the Siegfried Line unsuccessfully for three months when the battle was finally called off to face the German counteroffensive in the Ardennes Forest.

3. The Battle of the Bulge (December 16,1944-January 28, 1945)

Total Casualties: 75,482 (8,407 killed in action)

The largest battle ever fought by the United States, more than one million U.S. servicemen worked to push the Germans back in their last major Western offensive of the Second World War.

2. The Battles of the Meuse-Argonne (September 26-November 11, 1918)

Total Casualties: 122,063 (26,277 killed in action)

The deadliest battle in U.S. history happened to be the climatic action of the First World War. French and American troops broke through the German defenses and pushed them to the German border where an armistice was declared on November 11, bringing to an end the War to End All Wars.

1. The Battle of Normandy (June 6-August 30, 1944)

Total Casualties: 124,394 (20,668 killed in action)

The bloodiest battle in American history was that first action in France which is currently celebrating its 80th anniversary. D-Day was only the beginning of the battle with fighting in Normandy not coming to an end until the liberation of Paris at the end of August 1944.