The Northern army consisted mostly of younger men more drawn by the money rather than saving the territorial Union. Author Ella Lonn writes that “it was no uncommon thing to find bounties of $1200 to $1500 offered for three year recruits; [and] the average sum paid to a recruit in an Illinois district once rose to $1,055.95.” The average Southern soldier fought with his home and family to his back, little food and for near-worthless money.
Bernhard Thuersam, www.Circa1865.com
Lincoln’s Youthful Mercenaries
“The Grand Army of the Republic [veterans’] organization was founded by Dr. Stephenson, in Decatur, Illinois in 1866. The final encampment was in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1949. The number of men, by age, who served the Union (from the Adjutant General’s report):
Age 15 and under: 104,987; Age 16 and under: 231,051; Age 17 and under: 844,891;
Age 18 and under: 1,151,438; Age 21 and under: 2,159,798; Age 22 and over: 618,511;
Age 25 and over: 46,626; Age 44 and over: 16,071.
Total of [men in Northern service:] 2,778,304.”
(Civil War Union Monuments, Baruch and Beckman, Daughters of Union Veterans, 1978, page 183)