COVID-19 has killed more Americans than the rebels did during the Civil War – NBC News

More Americans have died of COVID-19 than Union soldiers were killed on the battlefield during the Civil War. Its a sobering statistic that comes at a time when Confederate statues are being toppled across the country.

The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus was 147,828 and rising as of Monday morning, according to the latest NBC News tally.

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By contrast, 140,414 Union soldiers fell while fighting rebel forces led by Confederate generals like Stonewall Jackson and racist politicians like Jefferson Davis. Their effigies are now being evicted from the public square as part of the nationwide wave of protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, a Black man who perished in May beneath the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer.

The Confederate side lost 74,524 men on the battlefield, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

In other developments:

Texas now has 395,242 confirmed cases, which puts the state on track to eclipse New York's total numberof new infections, the NBC News figures show.

New York has 417,894 confirmed cases since the beginning of the pandemic as of Monday morning. California now has the most cases in the nation, with 459,576, and Florida is a close second with 423,855.

The U.S. surpassed 4 million confirmed COVID-19 cases on Thursday, with the biggest surge in the number of new infections reported in the South and the Sun Belt.

Joe Murphy is a data editor at NBC News Digital.

Corky Siemaszko is a senior writer for NBC News Digital.

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COVID-19 has killed more Americans than the rebels did during the Civil War - NBC News