In 1862, Colonel James Mulligan discovered that many Confederate prisoners did not wish to be exchanged and were willing to join the Union army; he illegally enlisted former Confederates to be used on the front lines. Despite these hardships, they rebuilt trans-continental telegraph lines, restored stagecoach and mail routes between Missouri and California, escorted supply trains along the Santa Fe Trail, and protected wagon trains as they crossed the plains. There has not been much written since then so this remains the primary . In September and October, Companies D, E, F, and G were recruited from Confederate prisoners at Fort Delaware, most of whom had been captured at the Battle of Gettysburg, numbering approximately 450 in all. XLI, p. 997) Straut had enlisted as a sergeant in Company D in October 1861, became first sergeant of Company I in November 1863, reenlisted in December, became 2nd lieutenant of Company I in January 1864, then 1st Lt of Company G in March. 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The 1st U.S.V.I. In the case of the 4th USVI, more than a tenth of its recruits slipped away from the regiment before it even arrived at its first frontier outpost. The galvanized units were recruited from Union prison camps at Point Lookout, Maryland; Rock Island, Alton, and Camp Douglas, Illinois; Camp Chase, Ohio; and Camp Morton, Indiana. Company B marched across Kansas to Fort Leavenworth and mustered out on November 3. The regiment remained in garrison at Camp Schenck in Baltimore, seeking to raise more troops, assigned to the Cavalry Reserve of the Eighth Corps until officially organized on January 9, 1864. [38], On the evening of December 27, 1864, six members of Burke's Battalion deserted and made their way into the Union lines, where they reported the presence of the former prisoners and the likelihood that they would not resist any Union attack. under Lt. Cyrus L. Hutchins traveled by steamboat on May 12, 1865, to Fort Benton to control trade between there and another post at the mouth of the Yellowstone River. General Grant was opposed to their continued use in the East, saying that it is not right to expose them where, to be taken prisoners, they might surely suffer as deserters. The 1st U.S. It was July 26, 1865 when a force of 3,000 Sioux and Cheyenne descended onto the U.S. Army outpost at Platte Bridge in Wyoming. [38], Grierson's prisoners were shipped by steamer to the Union prison camp at Alton, Illinois, where the claims of the "galvanized Yankees" that they desired restoration to their original units were investigated. Considered traitors by their Southern comrades, these reluctant Union-men became known as white-washed rebels or even galvanized Yankees a reference to the process in which steel is surface-treated to prevent corrosion. The next morning Grierson's 1st Brigade advanced and came under fire from Confederate skirmishers, including Burke's Battalion, which was ensconced in a stockade east of the rail line. This is the only book I ever stole from a library. Burke's Battalion and the 17th Arkansas were sent with a battery of artillery aboard the first train to block the tracks at Egypt Station, a mile west of Aberdeen, Mississippi. In pursuit of revenge : the Sioux Uprising of 1862 -- Galvanized Yankees -- Beecher's Island -- Geronimo -- The ghost dance and the Battle of Wounded Knee. by Dee Brown. Brown (1963), pp. Publisher: Bison Books. Pennsylvania was the home state of Lincoln's opponent General. Few volunteered. The other seven companies frequently changed stations, posted at some point to Camp Wardwell, Julesburg, and Fort Sedgwick, Colorado; Post Alkali, Fort Cottonwood, Mud Springs, Plum Creek, and Columbus, Nebraska; Fort Wallace, Kansas; and Fort Laramie, Fort Halleck, Fort Caspar, and Sweetwater Station, Territory of Idaho. Your donations help keep MHN afloat. Galvanized Yankees - Meet the Confederate POWs who joined the Union Army - MilitaryHistoryNow.com 12 August, 2013 The Battle of Platte Bridge of 1865 saw a U.S. Army regiment made up of Confederate POWs fight off a vastly superior force of native warriors. Though the situation remained tense, life at Fort Rice improved in small ways. Sidney Lewis Triplett Co. K, 53 NC Regiment. On December 28, 1864, at Egypt Station, Mississippi, a Confederate regiment composed of 250 galvanized soldiers threw down their arms and surrendered as Union troops charged them. Does anyone have information on these galvanized yankees ? In 1864, Colonel John Chivington further inflamed the frontier by leading 700 volunteers in an early morning raid on an encampment of 550 Cheyenne and Arapaho at Sand Creek, Colorado. later he was assigned to the 1st arkansas light artillery. He served on a number of staffs and was promoted to major in February 1865, then brevetted a brigadier general of volunteers for "meritorious service" in March. Six companies proceeded to St. Louis, Missouri, where they boarded the steamboat Effie Deans and headed for their new home at Fort Rice in present-day North Dakota. GALVANIZED YANKEES were Confederate soldiers imprisoned during the Civil War but granted their freedom in exchange for an oath of allegiance to the United States and enlistment in the Union army. Volunteers on the frontier served as far west as Camp Douglas, Utah; as far south as Fort Union, New Mexico; and as far north as Fort Benton, Montana. Approximately 5,600 former Confederate soldiers enlisted in the "United States Volunteers", organized into six regiments between January 1864 and November 1866. Also mentioned is the brief effort that the Confederates made to recruit from Union Soldiers held in POW camps in the South. Due to doubts of their ultimate loyalty, they were generally assigned to posts far from the Civil War battlefields, often protecting the trails and settlements in the American West. Some units suffered high desertion rates. Galvanized buckets vs galvanized yankees I'm thinking it's the same word, but a different meaning. Volunteers were recruited in the spring of 1865 to replace the 2nd and 3rd U.S.V.I., which had been enlisted as one-year regiments. The unit was folded into the U.S. Armys Eighth Corp and sent to Louisiana where it would eventually take part in the Red River campaign and the Union assault on Fort Morgan and the capture of Mobile, Alabama. Alas, he died about two months later in a Philadelphia hospital and I would like to find out more about where he would be buried. The Union had raised five others between 1864 and 1865 enlisting at total of 5,600 Southerners. The recruits were required to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy, and were not issued arms or ammunition until the night before their first engagement. Thanks for adding that. The Galvanized Yankees por: Brown, Dee Publicado: (1985) The Galvanized Yankees. Since the Galvanized Yankees were now considered enlisted men rather than prisoners, they were allowed . [4][n 1] The ban continued until 1863, except for a few enlistments of foreign-born Confederates into largely ethnic regiments. We are committed to providing you with reliable and efficient service at . The term of deprecation came from the process of galvanizing metal, where a coat of zinc was added to the top layer to prevent corrosion. XLVIII, p. 264) He had been commissioned from the ranks while in Company A, 25th Massachusetts Volunteers. Like the metal, these galvanized soldiers in many cases were still "Good old Rebels," or "Billy Yanks," underneath their adopted uniforms.[1]. The Indians could shoot their arrows at a much faster rate. Declared a US Navy invalid. He became captain of the company in Minnesota on December 3, 1864. A fascinating book! Excerpted from The Museum Gazette, Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, National Park Service. [27][28], The service of the 3rd Regiment Cavalry, Maryland Volunteers began on August 8, 1864, with the raising of three companies at Baltimore. In September 1863, authorized to expand to a regiment, the 1st Connecticut Cavalry while on Provost Guard at Camp Chesebrough in Baltimore, recruited 82 replacements from among Confederate prisoners kept at Fort Delaware, placing most in Company G (organized October 5, 1863) and spreading the rest throughout the regiment. Company I was involved in numerous skirmishes, including combat at the Battle of the Platte Bridge Station, and suffered higher casualties than any other company of the 3rd U.S.V.I. The Galvanized Yankees. Photos: Rays thump Yankees at Disney Yesterday Sports Guide to Plant City's Strawberry Festival, one of the largest festivals in the nation Yesterday Life & Culture Advertisement A fantastic account for those interested in the Western Frontier during and immediately after the American Civil War. When the native warriors struck the remote outpost, the men of 3rd, along with troopers from the 11th Ohio Cavalry (another unit made up of Confederate POWs), sallied forth to engage the attackers. First published in hardcove Published 1963. The term galvanized rebels or Yankees was coined by Samuel Bowles, a newspaper reporter, referring to galvanized metal, which turns colors when coated with zinc. However, desertion rates among the units of galvanized Yankees were little different from those of state volunteer units in Federal service. The six regiments of Galvanized Yankees wrote a proud record as they fought Indians, guarded surveying parties for the Union Pacific Railroad, escorted supply trains along the Oregon and Santa Fe trails, rebuilt hundreds of miles of telegraph lines destroyed by Indians, accompanied expeditions, protected stage coach routes, and manned lonely . After suffering a number of casualties, the 2nd New Jersey Cavalry responded with a charge in which it took severe casualties, including 22 dead, and lost 80 horses but captured more than 500 prisoners, among whom were Burke and 254 former Union soldiers from Burke's Battalion of the 10th Tennessee. He then goes on to discuss other former Confederates who served in units outside of the USV regiments, the most notable being Henry Morgan Stanley, who served in the Confederate Army, the Union Army, and the Union Navy. 143145, 152, 159, 161. prisoner of war camp at Point Lookout, Maryland, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, 1st Regiment Cavalry, Connecticut Volunteers, 3rd Regiment Cavalry, Maryland Volunteers, Provisional Army of the Confederate States, List of United States Volunteer Civil War units, https://www.nps.gov/ande/learn/historyculture/grant-and-the-prisoner-exchange.htm, "Trading Gray for Blue: Ex-Confederates Hold the Upper Missouri for the Union", Multivolume complete edition of letters to and from Grant, Brooks' Battalion of Foreigners: A story of desperation, mutiny, and bravery, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Galvanized_Yankees&oldid=1141739477, Military units and formations of the Union Army, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. The Premier Online Military History Magazine. Both events highlighted a problem for the settlers; Native Americans were beginning to fight for their lands, yet only a handful of U.S. soldiers and frightened civilians, many armed only with pitchforks, were available to protect themselves from the Indian Uprisings. As a result, General Ulysses S. Grant ordered a contingent of Galvanized soldiers, by then called U.S. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators . "This was no ordinary U.S. Army outfit. From Wikipedia: Originally, galvanization was the administration of electric shocks (in the 19th century also termed Faradism, after Michael Faraday).It stemmed from Galvani's induction of twitches in severed frogs ' legs, by his accidental generation of electricity. National Park Service publication on Andersonville National Historic Site. They garrisoned frontier forts which were low on manpower at a time of general unrest among American Indians and were stationed along the Missouri River and Oregon and Santa Fe Trails. Four of those companies saw combat in the Western Theater against the Confederate Army, two served on the western frontier, and one became an independent company of U.S. Read the new book, Putting on Blue by Dr. Al Hester, historian and former professor at the University of Georgia. Initially, the Effie Deans were supposed to take the regiment to their new post; however, the Missouri River was low that year, and the 600 men were forced to march a distance of over 270 miles. Nc Regiment Publicado: ( 1985 ) the Galvanized Yankees por: Brown, Publicado! Were recruited in the South also mentioned is the brief effort that the Confederates to. 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