“… America’s war for independence caused proportionately more human suffering than any other war in American history except the Civil War. Because to modern eyes the absolute numbers involved look comparatively small, it is easy to forget that with an estimated 6,800 to 8,000 Patriot deaths, 10,000 killed by disease in camps, and up to 16,000 or even 19,000 who perished in captivity, the number of Patriot soldiers killed in the Revolutionary War would be well over 3 million in terms of today’s population — and significantly more … if we consider Patriot deaths as a proportion of only the Patriot population in 1775 or 1783. More than ten times as many Americans died, per capita, in the Revolutionary War as in World War I, and nearly five times as many as in World War II. In addition, at least 20,000 British and thousands more American Loyalist, Native American, German, and French lives were lost. … At war’s end approximately 1 in 40 Americans went into permanent exile, the equivalent of some 7.5 million today.”
Scars of Independence — America’s Violent Birth, Holger Hoock, 2017
Facts about the Revolutionary War
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