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During the American Civil War, the United States Army, the land force that fought to preserve the collective Union of the states, was often referred to as the Union army, the federal army, or the northern army. It proved essential to the restoration and preservation of the United States as a working, viable republic.
The Union Army was made up of the permanent regular army of the United States, but further fortified, augmented, and strengthened by the many temporary units of dedicated volunteers, as well as including those who were drafted in to service as conscripts. To this end, the Union army fought and ultimately triumphed over the efforts of the Confederate States Army.
Over the course of the war, 2,128,948 men enlisted in the Union army,[2] including 178,895, or about 8.4% being colored troops; 25% of the white men who served were immigrants, and a further 18% were second-generation Americans.[3] Of these soldiers, 596,670 were killed, wounded or went missing.[4] The initial call-up was for just three months, after which many of these men chose to reenlist for an additional three years.
- ^ After the end of the American Civil War, Grant remained Commanding General of the United States Army until March 4, 1869 when he resigned to be sworn in as eighteenth President of the United States.
- ^ "Civil War Facts". American Battlefield Trust. August 16, 2011.
- ^ McPherson, pp.36–37.
- ^ "Civil War Casualties". American Battlefield Trust. September 15, 2023.