Was life just generally tough all round for troops fighting in the civil war or from food to medicine did any side have some sort of edge?
It really depends when and where, but for most part the Union. Though the Confederacy was very agricultural it consistantly failed to supply enough food and clothing, aswell as wages, after a certain point. These problems got worse for the Confederacy as the war went on. Near the end of the war most Confederate soldiers were half starved and recieving rations of nothing more than hardtack, and not even in sizable quantities. Since the beginning the Confederacy had problems providing clothing and next to no winter coats were produced and getting a replacement garment was difficult for most soldiers, one of the big reasons behind the common perception of raggled and worn Confederate soldiers. For money, Confederate soldiers were generally paid in relatively worthless CSA dollars and far less then they were promised.
And if nothing else, the Confederacy resulted to conscription far before the Union did, and the penalties for not complying were harsh.
To sum up how the Union compares, they had a surplus in all of the above mentioned,