THE UNION ARMY
By Noah Hoffman
The Union Army fought for the North in the Civil War, that's around two and a half million people. Most people were natural-born Americans, but around twenty-five percent of the white solders were immigrants from Europe. They entered the Army for a paycheck and a steady three meals a day. Some African Americans fought for the Union, but they were paid less and were treated harshly in some regiments.
The Union solders fought for many reasons. Some fought for food and money, while others fought for the North itself. But the two main reasons were for the restoration of the union between the North and South states, and abolishing slavery.
Many people gave their lives in the war. Out of two and a half million people, 364,511 died from combat, in sixteen soldiers were killed in
THE CONFEDERATE ARMY
By Jesse Hoffman
The Confederate Army was established in 1861 by the Confederate Congress. The Confederacy was made up of the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas and Florida. The Confederate states rebelled against the government, mainly over the issue of slavery. The Confederate states wanted slavery to continue and President Lincoln was completely against it.
The Civil War began April 12, 1861 with the Confederate attack upon Fort Sumter, a Union fort in the harbor of Charleston, SC. There were around 600,000 to 1 million lives lost through the war that lasted until 1865.
wounds and disease, and 281,881 soldiers were wounded. That is one in four Union soldiers that were killed. The South had one in three soldiers killed. For comparison, one WWII, and one in twenty-two soldiers were killed in the Vietnam War.
After four years of fighting, the Union won the war with the surrendering of the Southern armies to the North. People came from all walks of life to fight for the Union, including people from Germany and France. Many people sacrificed time with their family, their possessions, and their lives to fight for the Union.
Although the Civil war brought about some the laws to abolish slavery it also brought division between some of the states which took years to transition back to being unified. Both sides fought for what they believed in but thankfully becasue of men who wanted change fought for the freedom of slaves and equal rights no matter what your skin color was.