The Organization and Administration of the Union Army, 1861–1865

Summary

Shannon traces how the North raised, supplied, and managed its troops across the Civil War, moving past battlefield narrative to the machinery of recruitment, bounties, and logistics. He documents the failures of the state based volunteer system, the chaos of the draft, and the corruption that flowed through bounty payments. The work matters as a clear eyed study of administration over heroics, showing how the Union actually fielded and kept its armies.