Who were the brave soldiers who fought for the north snd south?

Most Americans were farmers - well over 90% of the people lived on a farm. So the soldiers were farm boys, and their fathers. Most had lived all their lives on the family farm, had gotten what schooling was available at little one room school houses, and had never been anywhere in their lives, except for the trips a few times a year the family made to the nearest town, usually the county seat, to trade for things they could not produce themselves on the farm - like sugar, salt, coffee, gunpowder, tobacco. The city boys went to war too, of course, but they were few in number compared to the farmers.