Easy to pay the price in other people's lives.
Many did serve.
Just over two million Northerners served, of whom roughly 30% were killed, wounded or missing.
The largest numbers killed came from New York, Ohio, Illinois & Pennsylvania.
The number of eligible Northerners who did not serve is put around 2.5 million.
Most of those worked producing food & war materials for Union armies.
One, young Samuel Clements, hid out in Virginia City, Nevada, where great quantities of silver helped fill Union treasuries.
Corresponding numbers for Confederates are about one million served of whom 45% were killed, wounded or missing.
There were very few eligible Confederates who did not serve.
Millions of slaves produced Confederate food & war materials while hundreds of thousands served Confederate armies setting up camps, building roads & fortifications, driving supply wagons, etc.