Editing Union army (section)

===Tactical organizations===
The [[military organization]] of the United States Army was based on the traditions developed in Europe, with the [[regiment]] being the basis of recruitment, training and maneuvering. However, for a variety of reasons there could be vast differences in the number of actual soldiers organized even into units of the same type. Changes in how units were structured during the course of the war, contrasts in organizational principals between regular and volunteer units, and even simple misnaming all played a role. Thus for example, comparing two infantry regiments at their full authorized strength one might have twice as many soldiers as the other. Furthermore, even when units were of equivalent size, their actual effectiveness depended greatly on training, leadership, equipment and other factors.<ref name="Eicher66" />
{|class="wikitable" style="display: inline-table;" 
! style="text-align:center; background:#acc;" |Name
! style="text-align:l center; background:#acc;" |Commander
! style="text-align:l center; background:#acc;" |Sub-units
! style="text-align:center; background:#acc;" |Soldiers
! style="text-align:center; background:#acc;" |Notes
|-
|+Union army tactical organizations<ref name="Eicher66"/><ref name="NCMuseum">{{cite web|title=Civil War Army Organization and Rank|url=https://www.ncmuseumofhistory.org/civil-war-army-organization-and-rank|publisher=North Carolina Museum of History|access-date=6 August 2021|archive-date=July 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170718010330/http://ncmuseumofhistory.org/civil-war-army-organization-and-rank|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="McGrath">McGrath, p. 17–20</ref><ref name="Wilson">Wilson, p. 12–15</ref>
|-
|[[Corps#American Civil War|Corps]]
|Major general
|2–6 divisions
|36,000
|Averaged three divisions, included a dedicated artillery brigade after 1863. See also [[Cavalry Corps (Union Army)|Cavalry Corps]].
|-
|[[Divisions of the United States Army#American Civil War|Division]]
|Major general
|2–6 brigades
|12,000
|Averaged three brigades for infantry divisions, two brigades for cavalry. Also included attached [[artillery battery|artillery batteries]] until 1863.
|-
|[[Brigade (United States Army)|Brigade]]
|[[Brigadier general (United States)|Brigadier general]]
|2–12 regiments
|4,000
|Averaged four regiments for both infantry and cavalry.  Artillery brigades consisted of between four and six batteries.
|-
|[[Regiment (United States Army)|Regiment]]
|[[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]]
|10 companies
|1,000
|Actual size would vary as attrition reduced the regiment down to several hundred soldiers or fewer. Artillery regiments consisted of twelve batteries but were purely administrative units.
|-
|[[Battalion (United States Army)|Battalion]]
|[[Major (United States)|Major]]
|Varied
|Varied
|With some exceptions, a battalion may refer to any two or more companies of a regiment or if a regiment consisted of between four and eight companies total.
|-
|[[Company (United States Army)|Company]]
|[[Captain (United States O-3)|Captain]]
|2 platoons
|100
|Cavalry equivalent referred to as a [[troop]]. Artillery equivalent referred to as [[artillery battery|battery]], contain between four and six artillery pieces.
|}

{{Union Army Formations}}