The author of Beowulf is a mystery, as most poets of the Anglo-Saxon period are. He might have been a court poet, or a monastic poet. Depending on the Christian interpretation of the poem, it could be either.he author of Beowulf is a mystery, as most poets of the Anglo-Saxon period are. He might have been a court poet, or a monastic poet. Depending on the Christian interpretation of the poem, it could be either.
1 An exact count of soldiers who died in combat and from disease during the Civil War is impossible, historians say. 2  Prof Hacker estimates between 650,000 - 850,000 deaths, but believes the most likely number was about 750,000.
For 110 years, the numbers stood as gospel: 618,222 men died in the Civil War, 360,222 from the North and 258,000 from the South â by far the greatest toll of any war in American history. But new research shows that the numbers were far too low.