There have been many thousands of friendly fire incidents in recorded military history, accounting for an estimated 2% to 20% of all casualties in battle.Percin, Gen. Alexandre (1921) Le Massacre de Notre Infanterie 1914–1918, Michel Albin, Paris Shrader, Charles R. (1982) Amicicide: The Problem of Friendly Fire in Modern War, US Command & General Staff College Survey No.1 The examples listed below illustrate their range and diversity, but this does not reflect increasing frequency. The rate of friendly fire, once allowance has been made for the numbers of troops committed to battle, has remained remarkably stable over the past 200 years.Kirke, Charles M. (ed., 2012) Fratricide in Battle: (Un)Friendly Fire Continuum Books
Wars of the Roses 1471 – During the Battle of Barnet, a Lancastrian force under the Earl of Oxford was fired on by the Lancastrian centre while returning from a pursuit; their banner, Oxford's "star with rays" had been mistaken for the Yorkist "sun in splendour". This gave rise to cries of treachery (always a possibility in that chaotic period), Lancastrian morale collapsed, and the battle was lost.
English Civil War 1643 – Following the fall of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire to Roundhead forces, captured Royalist commander, the Earl of Kingston, was killed by Royalist cannon fire when the boat transporting him to Hull was fired on from the banks of the River Trent.
Nine Years' War 1690 – Two French regiments accidentally attacked each other during the Battle of Fleurus, which led to the practice of attaching a white scarf to the flags of the regiments.Mouillard, Lucien – Les régiments sous Louis XV, 1882. Book 1, Chapter 1
War of the Spanish Succession 1708 - The Battle of Oudenaarde ended in confusion for the Allied victors. The darkness caused their right and left wings to mistake each other for French troops and engage in friendly fire. Eugene of Savoy on the right and the Prince of Orange on the left intervened and put an end to the friendly fire before the Allied army inflicted serious damage on itself.
French and Indian War July 9, 1755 – Two main phases of friendly fire occurred during the Battle of the Monongahela, which halted the Braddock Expedition after French regulars, French militia and Indians joined battle with them before Fort Duquesne. In the obscuring woodland conditions and confusion caused by the French musket fire and the Native Americans' war cries, several British platoons fired at each other. Later in the battle many provincial troops fled from more exposed ground and into nearby woods, where regular soldiers fired on them mistaking them for advancing French infantry. November 12, 1758 – Friendly fire occurred near Fort Ligonier, resulting "in the accidental death of many of George Washington's fellow Virginians under his command, while also resulting in the capture of French prisoners who provided intelligence that led to the successful taking of Fort Duquesne by the British army."
American Revolutionary War In the Battle of Germantown in 1777, a combination of late arrival, poor navigation and overpursuit resulted in Major General Adam Stephen's men colliding with General Anthony Wayne's troops. The two Continental Army brigades opened fire on each other, became badly disorganized, and fled. In the Battle of Guilford Courthouse on March 15, 1781, after several volleys of musket and cannon fire broke out, smoke began to obscure soldiers' view of the battlefield. In a pitched battle, smoke not only limited visibility but irritated soldiers' eyes and could make breathing difficult. In the confusion, British Lieutenant John Macleod, in command of two British three-pounders, was directed by British Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis to fire on the Americans who were in close combat with the British. Many British soldiers died as a result of friendly artillery bombardment.
Austro-Turkish War The Battle of Karánsebes in 1788, which only involved Austrian Imperial Army forces, started with a dispute over schnapps between Hussars and infantry of the Austrian vanguard which escalated into armed combat. The ensuing chaos involved even more Austrian forces, leaving 150 dead and 1200 wounded. The Ottoman Forces arrived only after the Austrians withdrew.
French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars 1796 – Battle of Fombio: In a night of confused fighting when Austrian units had stumbled into his army's position, French general Amadee Laharpe was shot dead by his own men while returning from reconnaissance. 1801 – Second Battle of Algeciras: Spanish ships Real Carlos and San Hermenegildo mistakenly engaged each other in the dark after HMS Superb sailed between them and fired at both. 1,700 were killed when the two ships exploded. 1806 – On 30 November, at 10 pm, and came upon a ship that they suspected was a French privateer and that kept up a running fight until morning, only surrendering after her captain and several of her crew had been wounded, of whom six later died. The vessel turned out to be the British merchant ship . 1809 – Battle of Wagram: French troops mistakenly fired on their allies from the Kingdom of Saxony. The grey uniforms of the Saxons were misidentified as white, the colour of uniform worn by their Austrian enemy. 1815 – Battle of Quatre Bras: Soldiers of the Dutch 3rd Light Cavalry Brigade disengaging and retiring from a skirmish against the French were fired on by Scottish highlanders who mistook their uniforms for those of French chasseurs a cheval. Battle of Waterloo: Prussian artillery mistakenly fired on British artillery causing many casualties, and British artillery returned fire at the Prussians.
Texas Revolution Both sides, Texians and Mexicans, in the Siege of the Alamo in 1836, had friendly fire incidents: In early hours of 1 March, a mounted party of Texian volunteers arriving at gallop to reinforce the Alamo garrison were fired at by defenders who mistook them in the dark for attacking Mexican horsemen, wounding one of them, before the sentries were called to open the gates for them. At the Mexicans' final mass assault (overnight 5–6 March), some of the veteran troops leading it were wounded or killed when shot by untrained recruits in the ranks behind who "blindly fir[ed] their guns", and when all the defenders had been killed, Mexicans continued to shoot Mexicans in mistake during the darkness.
American Civil War During the Battle of Shiloh on 6 April 1862, Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston was fatally wounded by a bullet that hit the back of his right knee when riding in advance of his troops. There were no Union troops observed to have got behind him and the bullet was identified by his surgeon as from a Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle, which was standard issue in the Confederate Army but not the Union troops present. Confederate Lieutenant General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was wounded as a result of friendly fire in the Battle of Chancellorsville on 2 May 1863, and died eight days later. He and some of his men had been returning, under the cover of night, from an intelligence-gathering mission when Confederate troops of the 18th North Carolina Infantry misidentified them as a Union cavalry scout team; as a result, the North Carolina troops opened fire.Garrison, Webb B. (1999) Friendly Fire in the Civil War: More than 100 True Stories of Comrade Killing Comrade, Rutledge Hill Press; In the Battle of the Wilderness on 6 May 1864, Confederate Lt. General James Longstreet was wounded when his mounted column from the First Corps was mistaken for Federal troops. As a result of this, he did not return to command until October of that year. In the same incident, Brigadier General Micah Jenkins was mortally wounded after being struck in the head. In the early hours of 6 March 1865, the Union vessel was en route to blockade Wilmington, North Carolina when she was rammed and sunk by after being mistaken for a blockade runner. All hands were rescued before she sank.
Russo-Japanese War Dogger Bank Incident (overnight 21/22 October 1904) – In what can be classified literally as a case of fog of war, battleships of the Imperial Russian Navy's Baltic Fleet en route to reinforce in the Far East, fired on a fleet of British fishing trawlers in the North Sea, mistaking them for Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo boats after misunderstanding signals. One fishing vessel was sunk, four were damaged, and two fishermen were killed and six wounded. In the general chaos that ensued, the cruisers and were also taken for Japanese warships in the fog and bombarded by seven battleships sailing in formation, damaging both ships and killing at least one Russian sailor and severely wounding another, and fatally wounding a naval chaplain. During the pandemonium, several Russian ships signalled that torpedoes had hit them, and on board the battleship , rumours spread that the ship was being boarded by the Japanese, with some crew members donning life vests and lying prone on the deck and others drawing cutlasses to repel a boarding before a ceasefire was signalled.Dogger Bank – Voyage of the Damned ('Hullwebs – History of Hull' website. Retrieved 8 September 2007.) 13 November 1904 – The Imperial Russian Navy destroyer struck a Russian naval mine and sank in Korea Bay off Port Arthur, China.Corbett, Julian S., Maritime Operations in the Russo-Japanese War, Volume II, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1994, , p. 85.Chesneau, Roger, and Eugene M. Kolesnik, Conway's All the World′s Fighting Ships 1860–1905, New York: Mayflower Books, 1979, , p. 206.
World War I 1914 Battle of Dinant 21–23 August – It is believed that some parties of German infantry entering the Belgian city of Dinant in a nighttime assault, fired at each other in the darkness while under fire from French troops. The Germans mistakenly believed that hostile Belgian civilians had fired on them, contributing to a conviction among their troops that Belgian civilians were actively fighting them. This led to arrests and massacres of local civilians when the town was invaded and occupied. On the 23rd, German artillery mistakenly fired on infantry who were occupying and barricading a street; the latter units were temporarily forced to withdraw, having shot a man held as a human shield accused of having been a franc-tireur in earlier fighting. 28 August – During the Battle of Heligoland Bight, a British submarine mistook the British light cruiser for an Imperial German Navy warship and fired two torpedoes at her, which missed. Assuming the submarine to be German, Southampton attempted to ram her, but she escaped without damage. 4 November – While attempting to exit the anchorage at Schillig Roads in the Heligoland Bight in fog, the Imperial German Navy armored cruiser entered a German minefield, struck two mines, and quickly sank at with the loss of at least 338 and perhaps as many as 502 lives, according to different sources.
1915 21 January – The Imperial German Navy submarine was torpedoed and sunk in the North Sea by the German submarine , which had mistaken her for an enemy submarine. Twenty-four of U-7′s crew were killed, and only one survived. Battle of Bolimów 31 January – The German Ninth Army launched the first large scale poison tear gas attack on the Russian Second Army in Poland, firing 18,000 gas shells. However the wind blew the gas back onto the German lines, causing a few casualties which could have been higher had the winter cold not frozen the ingredient xylyl bromide. The attack was called off, the counter-attacking Russians being successfully repelled by conventional artillery shellfire.