Regular Army (United States) - Civil War

Civil War

During the American Civil War, the Union Army consisted of a very small contingent of pre-war U.S. Army or "Regular Army" personnel combined with vast numbers of soldiers in state volunteer regiments raised and equipped by the States before being "federalized" and led by general officers appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate. In many ways, these regiments resembled and might be analogized to the modern day National Guard.

Officers during the Civil War from the state forces were known by the rank suffix "of volunteers"; if Regular Army, these officers were known by the rank suffix "USA". Thus, a state regiment colonel would be known as "colonel of volunteers" while a Regular Army captain would be known as "Captain, USA". Regular Army officers of the Civil War could accept commissions in volunteer forces and could also be granted brevet ranks (higher ranks than the permanent commission). In some cases, officers held as many as four ranks: a permanent rank (called "full rank") in the Regular Army, a full rank in the volunteers, and brevet ranks in both as a result of battlefield promotion, meritorious service or Congressional action. The officers typically would only refer to themselves by the highest rank they held. An example is Union Army officer James Henry Carleton who was a "full" captain, a brevet major in the regular army, a colonel of volunteers, and a brevet brigadier general.

After the Civil War ended in 1865, the term Regular Army was used to denote an officer's permanent rank only when a brevet commission had also been received. Such was the case with George Custer who was a brevet major general of volunteers and a brevet Regular Army brigadier general while holding the permanent rank of lieutenant colonel in the Regular Army. If no brevet rank was held, the officer was simply referred to by his permanent rank and the suffix "USA". Enlisted personnel could not hold brevet ranks and were all considered simply as United States Army personnel.

The Confederate Army had its own approximate of the Regular Army, this known as the "Army of the Confederate States of America" or the "ACSA". The ACSA was considered the professional military while, as in the Union Army, the Confederacy mustered massive numbers of state volunteers into the "Provisional Army of the Confederate States" or the "PACS". Nearly all Confederate enlisted personnel were PACS while most senior general officers held dual commissions in the ACSA and PACS. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, for instance, was a lieutenant general in the PACS while holding the permanent rank of major of artillery in the ACSA. The ACSA concept was also used to ensure that none of the senior Confederate officers could ever be outranked by militia officers, considered subordinate to the PACS.