Galvazined Yankees Fact or Fiction

Bristow Kid · August 28, 2006, 11:30:14 PM

I am looking for information about captured Southern troops that were offered a chance to serve the Union in the West instead of going to the prision camps. I saw a book and its on order but its the only information I have found so far on this subject. Is this true or is it another of the works of fiction that came out of the CW era? Thanks in advance for any help and information.

Bristow Kid

Delmonico · August 28, 2006, 11:49:13 PM

Yes there were, I can't give you exact units or how may there were, but they were there. Regular Union Troops also didn't care for them much.

St. George · August 29, 2006, 12:30:20 AM

From 'The Museum Gazette'...

'Throughout the existence of the galvanized units, six regiments were formed and sent to the West.

They were recruited from these Union prison camps:

Point Lookout, Maryland (1st and 4th Regiments)
Rock Island, Illinois, (2nd and 3rd Regiments)
Alton Illinois, Camp Douglas Illinois, Camp Chase, Ohio and Camp Morton, Indiana (5th and 6th Regiments).

They garrisoned frontier forts which were low on manpower at a time of general unrest among American Indians.
They were stationed along the Missouri River, Oregon and Santa Fe Trails.
From New Mexico to Montana, they endured Indian attacks, cold winters, disease, and grueling marches.
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.
By the time many of the Galvanized regiments reached their western posts the Civil War had ended, and as a result, they had a short life.

The 1st U.S. Volunteers were mustered out on November 27, 1865, only a year and a month after they first reached Ft. Rice.
The last of the six regiments lasted a year longer, with the final Galvanized Yankee becoming a civilian on November 13, 1866.

Galvanized soldiers were shunned in the South, and neglected by the Grand Army of the Republic upon war's end.
For most of the Galvanized Yankees, there was little left in the South to return home to.
Some went back to rebuild their homes and careers, while others decided to remain in the West, with the chance to start new lives on the American frontier.

Despite the varied origins of the 6000 men who were "Galvanized" during the war, each had the chance to prove his loyalty to the United States.
They were a valuable presence at a time and place in which they were needed.

Captain Enoch Adams, a commander of troops at Fort Rice, wrote that "their whole course and behavior has displayed that unadulterated patriotism was the only motive that urged them on....Many have laid down their lives at the beck of disease, some have been murdered by the arrow of the [Indian], and with but few exceptions, living or dead, have been true to their trust."

The Galvanized soldiers turned from the task of fighting a war to divide the United States, and joined a cause which endeavored to expand and strengthen the nation.

Their unusual story is one of the least known and most ironic tales of the American West.'

Read 'The Galvanized Yankees' - by Dee Brown - as well as several National Park Service monographs to further add to your store of arcane knowledge...

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

Bristow Kid · August 30, 2006, 12:04:13 AM

Del & St.George Thanks to both of you for helping add another piece to my store of arcane knowledge. I really appreciate all the help I have gotten from the both of you since my beginings in CAS.

Frenchie · August 30, 2006, 12:11:05 AM

Just in case anyone is wondering about it, the term 'galvanized' comes from the metal plating industry of the time, when metals were plated for beauty and resistance to corrosion in a process that used 'galvanic cells' to charge the electrolytic solutions. Thus a 'galvanized Yankee' had been changed on the outside, i.e. his uniform and his behavior.

In Dances with Wolves those soldiers at the post who open fire on Dunbar and kill his horse Cisco as he comes back for his book would probably be galvanized former POWs. IRRELEVANCY ALERT - I love the movie but I can't watch it past the point where he realizes he must go back for the book because the troops wouldn't fire without orders in the first place, and in the second place, what the hey are five or six of them doing at one guard post all at the same time? The movie's historical fidelity isn't all that great to begin with, but it really takes a nosedive at that point. And when Smiles A Lot kills the sergeant with a tomahawk to the chest I want to yell, "No! In the head! The head!"

Grizzle Bear · August 30, 2006, 09:29:42 AM

Quote from: Frenchie on August 30, 2006, 12:11:05 AM
And when Smiles A Lot kills the sergeant with a tomahawk to the chest I want to yell, "No! In the head! The head!"

It's good to know that I am not the only one that yells at movie characters when they do something tactically stupid!

Grizzle Bear

Delmonico · August 30, 2006, 10:02:06 AM

I'm surprised you can get that far into that movie. I put it high on my all time list of bad westerns. WhY? Because all the don't understand's think it is so good.

US Scout · August 30, 2006, 01:07:17 PM

I enjoy it mostly for the Socks the wolf, Cisco the horse, and Wes Studi the Pawnee.

It ain't all that bad considering some other westerns that are out there. I've seen a lot worse movies. It has some good moments - not many but a few. We won't talk about the long range Henry shot on the buff, though. But I'm with Frenchie when it comes to the return for the book, etc.

US Scout
Bvt Brig Gen

Books OToole · August 30, 2006, 02:20:37 PM

Aside from dropping a charging bull buffalo at 100 + yards with a Henry...

The villianous troops are Volunteers. In the movie they are uniformly illiterate. In reallity Vol.s probably had an 80% litteracy rate, compared to about 25% for regulars.

Books

Bristow Kid · August 30, 2006, 06:22:01 PM

Well since this post has gone astray I might as well follow suit. I blame everyone here for ruining westerns for me forever. Until I got interested in CAS and NCOWS. I loved sitting down to watch a good western. Now I find myself picking them apart for all the incorrect items. Thanks again everyone for ruining my westerns

(just kidding I hope you all realized that)

Major Matt Lewis · August 30, 2006, 06:31:57 PM

I bet a REAL authentic Western would be pretty darn boring....if you look at the majority of events that took place back then....

Books OToole · August 30, 2006, 06:54:07 PM

The Newton massacre certainly wasn't boring. But it is real hard to stretch a ninety second gun fight out to 2 hours.

Books

Delmonico · August 30, 2006, 07:14:09 PM

OK we ruined movies and hijacked yer thread.

got to thinkin' one time, could take 2 movies we all know and take the actors from one and put them in the scene from another and have the most PC movie scence of all time.

What is this you ask, take the kids from "The Cowboys" and put them in the camp fire scence from "Blazing Saddles."

Many real cowboys wern't far from the same age, and they ain't changed all that much in 130 years.

Bristow, just remember we ruin it for the folks who make them worse, they have to make a movie we wond tear down to much, but yet they have to be able to sell it to the general public, cause just us ain't gonna pay the bills.

My favorite, "The Cowboys" Co-starring John Wayne and Bruce Dern, starring Rosco Lee Brown.

Grizzle Bear · August 31, 2006, 07:33:15 AM

Quote from: Books OToole on August 30, 2006, 06:54:07 PM
The Newton massacre certainly wasn't boring. But it is real hard to stretch a ninety second gun fight out to 2 hours.

Books

This is where you do one of those Zen things, where the journey is more important than the destination.

Grizzle Bear

The Pathfinder · September 26, 2006, 05:00:17 PM

Try to contact Fort Larned in Kansas. I remember going thru there many years ago and I believe that a number of the "galvanized" troops were stationed there during the war years.

Grapeshot · September 27, 2006, 12:13:07 PM

Getting back on track. Wasn't the Command under Major Dundee made up of a motley group of volunteers from the population of Confederate Prisoners being held in a Union POW Compound?

Frenchie · September 28, 2006, 09:15:40 PM

Quote from: Delmonico on August 30, 2006, 07:14:09 PMMy favorite, "The Cowboys" Co-starring John Wayne and Bruce Dern, starring Rosco Lee Brown.

"Where to begin? I regret having trifled with married women. I'm entirely ashamed of having cheated at cards. I deplore my occasional departures from the truth. Forgive me for having taken Your name in vain, my Saturday drunkenness, my Sunday sloth. Above all, forgive me for the men I have killed in anger - and those I'm about to." -- John Wayne in 'The Cowboys', uttered by Roscoe Lee Browne as Mr. Nightlinger

Bristow Kid · September 28, 2006, 11:18:47 PM

Grapeshot

Yes part of the command under Dundee in the movie was Galvanized yankees also exslaves and cowboys. I just saw this movie tonight it was a good one.

Snapshot · September 30, 2006, 06:53:48 AM

I actually re-enact or try to portray one.

Christian Olsen Strand first signedup with the7th. Texas vol infantry. After been taken prisoner a second time he signed on with the 58th Illinois..... and he had the guts to move back to Waco Texas after the war!
I bet you he`s like me, he`d rather fight than be improsoned!

Did you see the pictures link that I put out in the post "Just stmbeled by the barracs"..?

Guns Garrett · October 01, 2006, 04:30:30 PM

Hey Bristow,
Speakin' of liking "bad" westerns- well, I may burn in Period Correct H*ll for this, but I truly enjoy watching "Silverado". P.C. it aint, and it has that Costner feller in it, but it's just FUN to watch - just like the serials of the 40's and 50's it was made to pay homage to - its supposed to be cheesy and hokey, and who cares how accurate it is. It aint a documentary.
GG