[BroJoeK]

LeoWindhorse: "Filthy Yankee dogs. GERMAN immigrant staffed ranks of northern westerners."

One recent Union immigrant was my great-grandfather.
In late December 1862 he and his company surrendered without a fight while guarding US Grant's supply lines along the Mobile & Ohio Railroad in Tennessee.
Their captor was Confederate cavalry commander, Nathan Bedford Forrest, who soon released them all on "parole", meaning they would serve their captivity in a Union POW camp, until released by prisoner swap for Confederate POWs.

So as of "today", January 19, 1863, my Union great-grandfather is sitting in a Union POW camp in St. Louis.
In due time he will be released temporarily to go home and help on his family's farm in Illinois.

In my opinion, Forrest's actions in releasing those captured Union immigrant soldiers will be repaid when they release Forrest from capture or death in a future battle.

As for which army caused more civilian destruction, the Union army was almost always supplied from official Union resources, while Confederate forces more often "lived off the land", especially when they operated in Union states & territories.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

the Union army was almost always supplied from official Union resources

Maybe in the east. What I have been reading recently from Union soldiers in the west tells another story. E.g., Private Daniel Ambrose of the 7th Illinois Volunteers in tomorrow's diary entry.

"The troops still continue foraging, and in consequence the country has well nigh become impoverished, almost everything in the line of subsistence having been confiscated. But occasionally a hog, goose, or chicken ventures from some hiding place and falls a prey to the 'inveterate Yankees.'"