On April 3, 1865, in the closing days of the American Civil War, the bodies of Confederate soldiers killed by Union troops lay in the muddy trenches of Fort Mahone in Petersburg, Va.

 　　The body of a Confederate soldier killed by Union troops lies in a muddy trench at Fort Mahone in Petersburg, Virginia, on April 3, 1865, in the closing days of the American Civil War. taken by Thomas C. Roche on April 3, the day after Union troops broke through Robert E. Lee's defenses around the city. It was the closing stages of the Richmond-Petersburg campaign, which lasted approximately 292 days and was near the end of the American Civil War. Confederate soldiers within Union lines were killed and mortally wounded in a Union attack that was part of the Third Battle of Petersburg. The Union forces, which were much larger in size, attacked the thinly stretched Confederate forces. Union soldiers captured Richmond and Petersburg on April 3, 1865, while other Union soldiers surrounded the Confederates. Confederate General Robert E. Lee was forced to surrender on April 9, 1865, after the Battle of Appomattox Court House.

　　The American Civil War, fought between 1861 and 1865, was the bloodiest war in American history. The deadliest battle was the Battle of Gettysburg in Penilvania from July 1 to July 3, 1863. In this battle alone, some 52,000 people were killed, wounded, or missing. Death, starvation, and battlefield destruction unfolded on the disastrous battlefield of the nearly four-year Civil War. The Confederacy used disease, starvation, exposure, and executions to kill thousands of former slaves, and on April 9, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered in Virginia, ending the bloody war.

　　The American Civil War was the bloodiest war in U.S. history, claiming some 620,000 lives in just four short years, from 1861 to 1865. The death toll represented about 2% of the U.S. population at the time. The death toll was about the same as in all other wars fought by the United States combined. More people died during the Civil War than in World War I (about 116,516) and World War II (about 405,339) combined. The quiet cause of death during the Civil War was disease. Nearly twice as many soldiers were killed or wounded in battle or from wounds sustained in battle. Overall, roughly one in four did not live to see the end of the war.