President Lincoln's brother-in-law was Confederate General Ben Hardin, who was killed at the Battle of Chicamunga in September 1863.
Union General Grant's best friend before the war was Confederate General James Longstreet, while Confederate General Lee's best friend before the war was Union General George Meade. Both friendships survived the war.
2,489,836 whites, 178,075 African-Americans, and 3,530 Native Americans served in the Union Army, and 105,063 (mostly whites) served in the Navy.
Between 600,000 and 750,000 men served in the Confederate Army (an exact figure has never been determined).
The Union had 583 generals, the Confederates 425.
10,413 Union soldiers were under the age of 18 when they wnlisted. One was only 10 years old.
Of the 1,098 officers in the U.S. Army at the start of the war, 286 resigned to join the Confederacy.
Of the 15,269 soldiers in the U.S. Army at the start of the war, only 26 are recorded to have left to join the Confederate Army.
The war between the states claimed more casualties than any war the U.S. has ever participated in--at least 623,026 deaths and 471,427 wounded, for a minimum of 1,094,453. Approximately 388,000, over half, of all deaths during the war were the result of disease, not battle.
The Medal of Honor was first awarded during the Civil War. 1,520 soldiers, sailors, and Marines were given the award for either conspicuous conduct in battle or for capturing a Confederate flag. Captain Thomas Custer was awarded two Medals of Honor, the only person ever to receive two Medals of Honor.
The Union Army consisted of 2,144 infantry regiments, 272 cavalry regiments, 61 regiments of heavy artillery, 13 regiments of engineers, 9 light infantry battalions and 432 separate artillery batteries.
African-Americans served in 145 infantry regiments, 13 artillery regiments, 7 cavalry regiments and 1 emgineer regiment.
This page was last updated on 04/12/2011.