Below is part of an e-mail that I received from a Civil War historian friend in Georgia. He's a native of Suffolk County, L. I., now living in Georgia.

He writes as his answer to the question posed:
"I'm most familiar with Georgia newspapers of the period, which I have 
used extensively. My comments are that the papers in different towns or 
cities frequently repeated each others lists for maximum coverage, and 
that the names of wounded and captured or missing were reported as well 
as those killed on the field or died in camp. The reports were quite 
detailed as to cause of death, type of wound and place on the body 
where wounded. My research shows that families in rural areas often 
found the names of their loved ones through reports in the press in the 
nearest town that had a paper."

I hope that his answer will help those doing Civil War research. Since he's researching Georgia papers, these would be Confederate deaths, but I doubt the situation for Union deaths would be a great deal different.

David Roberts