Ranks, Insignias and Pay

Ranks have always existed in the military. Someone has to be in charge. Most soldiers start out as a Private. Some work their way up the ladder of command. Uniform insignias help soldiers tell who is who on the battlefield and which branch of the service they were in. Each rank has its own pay rate. Confederate soldiers had slightly different insignias and pay.

This table shows the various military ranks.
General
Lieutenant General
Major General
Brigadier General
Colonel
Lieutenant Colonel & Major
Captain
First Lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Sergeant Major
Quartermaster Sergeant
Ordnance Sergeant
First Sergeant
Sergeant
Corporal
Private First Class No Insignia
Private No Insignia

The shoulder or arm patches denoting the rank of enlisted men were called chevrons. Today, a single stripe is used to denote a private. During the Civil War, no stripe was used.

The chevrons were different colors to indicate which branch of the military each soldier was in. Red was for Artillery, yellow indicated Cavalry, blue was for Infantry and green indicated the soldier was a Sharpshooter.

When it came to the officer's insignias, the four stars for General was not actually used. Ulysses S. Grant was the first full General since George Washington, but he never wore the insignia during the war. Generals Sherman and Sheridan were promoted to four star Generals after the war.

This table shows the various sleeve insignias
used by the Confederate army to denote officers.
General
Colonel
Captain
Lieutenant

The insignias were sewn onto the sleeves of the officers. Officers of similar rank, wore the same insignia. For example, Lieutenant General wore the General insignia. Even after being promoted to full General, Robert E. Lee continued to wear the uniform of a Colonel.

This table shows the various collar insignias
for the different ranks of the Confederate military.
General
Colonel
Lt Colonel
Major
Captain
First Lieutenant
Second Lieutenant

The Confederates put the rank insignias for their officers right on the collar of their uniforms.

This table shows the various cap insignias
for the different branches of the military.
Artillery
Cavalry
Infantry
Sharpshooters
Marine Corps
Engineer Corps
Signal Corps
Ordnance
Staff Officers
Generals

The cap insignias were supposed to be standardized, but quite often, soldiers would purchase or make parts of their own uniforms, creating inventive substitutions.

This table shows the monthly pay for Northern, Southern and Modern Soldiers.
Rank Northern Southern Modern
Private $13 $11 $1274
Corporal $14 $13 $1662
Sergeant $17 $17 $1814
2nd Lieutenant $106 $80 $2783
Captain $130 $116 $3221
Major $169 $150 $3664
Lt. Colonel $181 $170 $4247
Colonel $212 $195 $5094
Brigadier General $315 $301 $8608
General $518 $500 $11690

During the Civil War, a Union Private was only paid 13 dollars per month, while a Southern Private was only paid 11 dollars per month. In comparison, a modern private is paid 1,274 dollars per month. During the Civil War, Northern troops were supposed to be paid every two months, but were lucky if they were paid every four months. Confederate troops were lucky if they were paid every six to eight months.