Not until dawn on September 21 would observers be able to take it in, but even during the night many Confederates sensed this would be the bloodiest ground they had ever seen. More men had been lost at Gettysburg, beyond doubt, but the fighting at Chickamauga was on a more narrow front, and the bodies were piled up by the dozen. Though it took some time to assess the damage, 16,000 Federals and 18,500 Confederates went killed, wounded, or missing in that terrible battle which seemed to justify the Native American name for the creek.