Help with the Army ranks during the Civil War?
I’m writing a play for my History class about “The Lost Order”. I’m completely making up how it was lost and found. I have two privates (New recruits) of the Confederate army, and a Sergeant who’s supposed to be their overseer. Would a sergeant oversee two new recruits, or would it be someone else?
He would be their squad leader (they used the same terms then as now, though the numbers are different). The Sergeant would be responsible for up to 10-15 soldiers, not just these two. However, training the new guys was a priority. Also, without knowing it, you are very historically accurate: the CSA fed replacements to existing regiments-thus the veterans could train the recruits. Whereas the Union constantly raised new regiments (for political and state pride reasons)-thus reducing the overall skill level of the Northern Armies.
Some answers might give you the impression that the CSA rank structure was standardized-it absolutely was not. A Corporal MIGHT be in charge, but that would depend on the regiment and the time period.
