In the North, the freshly arrived immigrants...mostly poor Irish were sent into battle for the Union. If I had to guess, the male sons of the wealthy families in both the N and S had loopholes to avoid fighting.
Like I've always said, in the North you paid to not go to war, I think for $300 (it could have been more) you could have "bought" your way out of the draft in the Union and appoint someone to serve in your place. If you were poor you went to war when your name was drawn. In the South, money got you a commission in the CSA Army as a Colonel or higher. Hell Nathan Bedford Forrest had ZERO military training before the war, but he made so much money slave trading he was able to "start" his own cavalry and became a General right off the bat. Like you said bro, the rich ones started the war and the poor ones fought it. It's still like that today, look at the majority of the kids that join the Services, they do so because they can't afford schooling and let the government pay for it and take their chances at going to war.
