how many men served in the union and confederate armies over the course of the war?

by Elwin Crona 6 min read

From the graph we can see that over the course of the war a total of 2.1 million men enlisted for the Union Army, and 1.1 million enlisted for the Confederate Army.
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Number of soldiers who were enlisted during the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865, by army.
CharacteristicTotal number of soldiers
Union States2,128,948
1 more row
Aug 13, 2019

How many people fought in the Union Army in the Civil War?

18 rows · Probably something over 2,000,000would be as accurate a figure as possible on total individuals in the Federal armed forces. For the Confederates, figures are even more in dispute. Estimates of total Confederate enlistments run from 600,000 to1,400,000. Many Confederate scholars count 6oo,oco total individuals.

How many black men served in the Civil War?

Jan 18, 2020 · O ver the course of the war, 2,128,948 men enlisted in the Union Army, including 178,895 colored troops; 25% of the white men who served were foreign-born. Of these soldiers, 596,670 were killed, wounded or went missing.

What were the differences between the Union and Confederate armies?

Aug 28, 2014 · How many Union soldiers served in the the Civil War? - Answers. Approximately 2 million soldiers served for the Union during theAmerican Civil War, and roughly 750,000 served for the Confederacy....

How big was the Union and Confederate armies in 1863?

How many soldiers were in the Union Army during the Civil War?

Statistics From the War 1Number or RatioDescription2,100,000Number of Northerners mobilized to fight for the Union army880,000Number of Southerners mobilized to fight for the Confederacy40+Estimated percentage of Civil War dead who were never identified16 more rows

How many men fought for the Confederate Army?

Though estimates vary, it is said that between 750,000 to 1 million soldiers fought at some time in the confederate army, about half the size of the Union Army.

How many Union and Confederate soldiers were deserted during the war?

Desertion proved a far more difficult problem for both sides. Official figures show slightly over 103,000 Confederate soldiers and over 200,000 Union soldiers deserted, with some estimates as high as 280,000.

How many white soldiers fought for the Union in the Civil War?

An estimated 100,000 white soldiers from states within the Confederacy served in Union Army units. Between April 1861 and April 1865, at least 2,128,948 men served in the United States Army, of whom the majority were volunteers.

How many Southerners served in the Union Army?

100,000 Southern UnionistsAround 100,000 Southern Unionists served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and every Southern state except South Carolina raised organizations of white troops.

How many African Americans served in the Union Army before the wars end?

The Fight for Equal Pay By the time the war ended in 1865, about 180,000 Black men had served as soldiers in the U.S. Army. This was about 10 percent of the total Union fighting force. Most—about 90,000—were former (or “contraband”) enslaved people from the Confederate states.Jan 11, 2022

What percentage of the Confederate army deserted?

Confederate Virginians fled military service at a rate of between 10 and 15 percent, more or less comparable to the desertion rate among Union troops, which stood between 9 and 12 percent.

What percentage of Union soldiers deserted?

Some believe as many as one in five Union soldiers and one in three Confederate soldiers deserted their post during the war. It is difficult to determine the exact figures, in part because of the number of casualties that were unidentifiable.

How many slaves were in the Union Army?

Nearly 180,000 free black men and escaped slaves served in the Union Army during the Civil War. But at first they were denied the right to fight by a prejudiced public and a reluctant government.

What was the average Confederate soldier fighting for?

Common sentiments for supporting the Confederate cause during the Civil War were slavery and states' rights. These motivations played a part in the lives of Confederate soldiers and the South's decision to withdraw from the Union. Many were motivated to fight in order to preserve the institution of slavery.

What 2 states joined the Union during the Civil War?

The Union included the states of Maine, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, California, Nevada, and Oregon. Abraham Lincoln was their President.Oct 27, 2021

How many men died in the Civil War?

620,000But how many died has long been a matter of debate. For more than a century, the most-accepted estimate was about 620,000 dead. A specific figure of 618,222 is often cited, with 360,222 Union deaths and 258,000 Confederate deaths.Jan 6, 2022

How many Union armies were there in the Civil War?

During the Civil War there were at least 16 armies on the Union side, and 23 on the Confederate side. In the Eastern Theater, the two principal adversaries were the Union Army of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.

Why were casualties high in the Civil War?

Continued high casualty rates resulted because tactical developments failed to adapt to the new weapons technology. Few commanders understood how the rifle musket strengthened the tactical defensive. However, some commanders made offensive innovations that met with varying success. When an increase in the pace of advance did not overcome defending firepower (as Hardee suggested it would), some units tried advancing in more open order. But this sort of formation lacked the appropriate mass to assault and carry prepared positions and created command and control problems beyond the ability of Civil War leaders to resolve.

What were the tactics of the Civil War?

In the Civil War, the tactical defense dominated the tactical offense because assault formations proved inferior to the defender's firepower. The rifle musket, in its many forms, provided this firepower and caused the following specific alterations in tactics during the war: 1 It required the attacker, in his initial dispositions, to deploy farther away from the defender, thereby increasing the distance over which the attacker had to pass. 2 It increased the number of defenders who could engage attackers (with the addition of effective enfilading fire). 3 It generally reduced the density of both attacking and defending formations, although in the 1864 campaigns, there was some experimentation of narrower and denser attacking formations to try to penetrate entrenched lines. 4 It created a shift of emphasis in infantry battles toward firefights rather than shock attacks. 5 It caused battles to last longer, because units could not close with each other for decisive shock action. 6 It encouraged the widespread use of field fortifications. The habitual use of field fortifications by armies was a major innovation, but it further hindered the tactical offensive. 7 It forced cavalry to the battlefield's fringes until cavalrymen acquired equivalent weapons and tactics, although cavalry still performed essential reconnaissance missions. 8 It forced artillery to abandon its basic offensive maneuver, that of moving forward to within canister range of defending infantry.

What was the standard material for field artillery?

In 1841, the US Army selected bronze as the standard material for fieldpieces and at the same time adopted a new system of field artillery. The 1841 field artillery system consisted entirely of smoothbore muzzleloaders: 6‑ and 12‑pound guns; 12‑, 24‑, and 32‑pound howitzers; and 12-pound mountain howitzers. A pre-Civil War battery usually consisted of six fieldpieces—four guns and two howitzers. A 6‑pound battery contained four M1841 6-pounder field guns and two M1841 12-pounder howitzers, while a 12-pound battery had four 12-pound guns and two 24-pound howitzers. The guns fired solid shot, shell, spherical case, grapeshot, and canister rounds, while howitzers fired shell, spherical case, grapeshot, and canister rounds (artillery ammunition is described below).

Why did the tactical defense dominate the tactical offense?

In the Civil War, the tactical defense dominated the tactical offense because assault formations proved inferior to the defender's firepower. The rifle musket, in its many forms, provided this firepower and caused the following specific alterations in tactics during the war:

What type of gun did the Navy use in the Civil War?

Like the Army, the U.S. Navy in the Civil War possessed an artillery establishment that spanned the spectrum from light to heavy. A series of light boat guns and howitzers corresponded to the Army's field artillery. Designed for service on small boats and launches, this class of weapon included 12- and 24-pounder pieces, both smoothbore and rifled. The most successful boat gun was a 12-pounder smoothbore howitzer (4.62-inch bore) designed by John A. Dahlgren, the Navy's premier ordnance expert and wartime chief of ordnance. Typically mounted in the bow of a small craft, the Dahlgren 12-pounder could be transferred, in a matter of minutes, to an iron field carriage for use on shore. This versatile little weapon fired shell and case rounds.

What weapons did the Army of Northern Virginia use?

The variety of weapons available to both armies during the Civil War is reflected in the battles of the Overland Campaign. To a limited extent, the Army of Northern Virginia's infantry had more uniformity in its small arms than the Army of the Potomac. In fact, some regiments of the famous Pennsylvania Reserves Brigade were still equipped with smoothbore muskets. In any case, both armies relied heavily on the Springfield and Enfield, which were the most common weapons used (although almost every other type of Civil War small arms could be found in the campaign). The variety of weapons and calibers of ammunition required on the battlefield by each army presented sustainment challenges that ranged from production and procurement to supplying soldiers in the field. Amazingly, operations were not often affected by the need to resupply a diverse mixture of ammunition types.

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Overview

Organization

The Regular Army of the United States on the eve of the Civil War was essentially a frontier constabulary whose 16,000 officers and men were organized into 198 companies scattered across the nation at 79 different posts. In 1861, this Army was under the command of Brevet Lieutenant General Winfield Scott, the 75‑year‑old hero of the Mexican‑American War. His positio…

Weapons

During the 1850s, in a technological revolution of major proportions, the rifle musket began to replace the relatively inaccurate smoothbore musket in ever-increasing numbers, both in Europe and America. This process, accelerated by the Civil War, ensured that the rifled shoulder weapon would be the basic weapon used by infantrymen in both the Federal and Confederate armies. The …

Tactics

The Napoleonic Wars and the Mexican War were the major influences on American military thinking at the beginning of the Civil War. American military leaders knew of the Napoleonic driven theories of Jomini, while tactical doctrine reflected the lessons learned in Mexico (1846‑48). However, these tactical lessons were misleading, because in Mexico relatively small armies fought onl…

Logistics

Victory on Civil War battlefields seldom hinged on the quality or quantity of tactical logistics. At the operational and strategic levels, however, logistical capabilities and concerns always shaped the plans and sometimes the outcomes of campaigns. As the war lengthened, the logistical advantage shifted inexorably to the North. The Federals controlled the majority of the financial and industrial resources of the nation. With their ability to import any needed materials, they ulti…

Engineers

Engineers on both sides performed many tasks essential to every campaign. Engineers trained at West Point were at a premium; thus, many civil engineers, commissioned as volunteers, supplemented the work being done by engineer officers. The Confederates, in particular, relied on civilian expertise because many of their trained engineer officers sought line duties. State or even local civil engineers planned and supervised much of the work done on local fortifications.

Communications

Communications systems used during the Civil War consisted of line-of-sight signaling, telegraphic systems, and various forms of the time-honored courier methods. The telegraph mainly offered viable strategic and operational communications, line-of-sight signaling provided operational and limited tactical possibilities, and couriers were most heavily used for tactical communications.

Medical support

Federal and Confederate medical systems followed a similar pattern. Surgeons general and medical directors for both sides had served many years in the prewar Medical Department, but were hindered by an initial lack of administrative experience in handling large numbers of casualties (see table 5), as well as the state of medical science in the mid‑19th century. Administrative procedures improved with experience, but throughout the war the simple lack of …