Historian reviews NC's 'Civil War' death count

'North Carolina's claim that it lost the most men during the Civil War [sic] is getting a recount from a state historian who doubts the accuracy of the accepted, 144-year-old estimate.

"The time has come to get it right," said Josh Howard, a research historian with the Office of Archives and History in Raleigh. "Nobody has gone through man by man looking for the deaths."

Howard is reviewing the military records of every Tar Heel who served in the 1861-65 conflict, as the state prepares to mark its sesquicentennial.'

While I welcome any further study of the War, I question the assumption Mr Howard makes about the generally accepted estimate. He seems to have already reached a conclusion before the study is done.