Union Army

The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War, which lasted from 1861 to 1865. It consisted of the small United States Army, known as the regular army, which was augmented by massive numbers of units supplied by northern U.S. states, consisting of volunteers as well as conscripts. The Union Army fought and eventually defeated the Confederate States Army during the war. About 360,000 Union soldiers died from all causes and some 280,000 were wounded.

History

Formation

When the American Civil War began in April 1861, there were only 16,000 men in the U.S. Army, and of these many Southern officers resigned and joined the Confederate States Army. The U.S. Army consisted of ten regiments of infantry, four of artillery, two of cavalry, two of dragoons, and three of mounted infantry. The regiments were scattered widely. Of the 197 companies in the army, 179 occupied 79 isolated posts in the West, and the remaining 18 manned garrisons east of the Mississippi River, mostly along the Canada–United States border and on the Atlantic coast.