Exploring Illegal Recruitment into the Union Army

Joined
Jul 29, 2010
Location
Cork, Ireland
I thought members may be interested in this. A few months ago friend of the blog Brendan Hamilton made a fascinating discovery when researching an Irish soldier– Robert Jenkins– whose image was exposed following his wounding in 1865. Discovering him on a ship's manifest, Brendan realised that many of the men listed as being on board with him also ended up in Robert's regiment. Brendan delved into all of their stories in an effort to find out just what was going on. Together we have researched the circumstances behind their service and what precisely was behind this fascinating story, which leads back to Liverpool and the manufacturing centres of Northern England. The post has just gone up– a fairly long read but hopefully of interest nonetheless! http://irishamericancivilwar.com/20...-emigrant-soldiers-from-the-ss-great-western/
 
Further insight on this will be welcome. It really speaks to what was going on with respect to immigrants during the war.
 
The British Foreign Enlistment Act forbid the recruitment of British subjects, the Federal government refused to authorize or countenance recruiting foreigners, but the Confederacy did complain about it occurring. It appears some effort was made to do this in Ireland, Belgium and Germany. this is discussed an article, Foreign Recruitment for Union Forces, Robert L. Peterson and John A. Hudson, civil War History, Volume Seven Number Two, June 1961.).

"The accusation of the use of foreign mercenaries is amply supported by the evidence. Most of these were simply tempted by bounties and high wages in industry to emigrate to America, and then found their way either into wage labor or the army according to the relative monetary inducement. Yet some mercenaries were imported expressly and official action for use in the army or at least to fill quotas. Senator Wilson asserted with some pride that Massachusetts had imported 907 men form Germany for use in four regiments." (p. 176 of the above article)
 
The British Foreign Enlistment Act forbid the recruitment of British subjects, the Federal government refused to authorize or countenance recruiting foreigners, but the Confederacy did complain about it occurring. It appears some effort was made to do this in Ireland, Belgium and Germany. this is discussed an article, Foreign Recruitment for Union Forces, Robert L. Peterson and John A. Hudson, civil War History, Volume Seven Number Two, June 1961.).

"The accusation of the use of foreign mercenaries is amply supported by the evidence. Most of these were simply tempted by bounties and high wages in industry to emigrate to America, and then found their way either into wage labor or the army according to the relative monetary inducement. Yet some mercenaries were imported expressly and official action for use in the army or at least to fill quotas. Senator Wilson asserted with some pride that Massachusetts had imported 907 men form Germany for use in four regiments." (p. 176 of the above article)

Thanks. Very enlightening.
 
I hope you do not mind me bringing a paragraph here? It is helpful dissipating the surge of bile ringing in one's ears over the bounty hunters repulsive ( can't find a strong enough word which will make it past auto - swear finder here ) plot. We find slave dealers dastardly, not a great deal of difference. Money in exchange for a life, bet these fellows found themselves standing in the same line when their turn came to try wheedling their way into Heaven, with those who made money selling a race nobody really ' owned ' either.

As usual the Irish lit their own fuse; once released from old country oppression, confinement and poverty. Pretty interesting, escaping all that walked right off he boat into the waiting arms of another set willing to see them as more helpless victims. Seem to have left both behind- love to see the next generation.I don't mean to get into modern politics but this about the Irish; brought a layer of vivid energy to the melting pot. We were a little like a paunchy, middle-aged smug man before incorporating them. Our current resentfulness on newcomers is worrying because what might we be missing excluding some potentially valuable element?

" Robert Jenkins survived his wound and heeded the call to ‘go West, young man.’ He appears on an 1897 register of veterans in the U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers as having checked in to the Sawtelle, California Veterans Home suffering from dyspepsia and rheumatism. He is single, his occupation, ‘railroader’ and his residence subsequent to his discharge, Glenn’s Ferry, Idaho. Jenkins is listed in subsequent censuses living at the Sawtelle Veteran’s Home in California through at least 1920. He died in 1931 and was buried at Los Angeles National Cemetery. Patrick Hastings, a native of Limerick, served beside Jenkins in Company E of the 64th, and was likewise wounded at Jones’ Farm. Hastings made a career out of soldiering and served in no less than four regiments of the U.S. Regular Army following the Civil War. Subsequent records suggest he may have been as young as sixteen when he enlisted in the 64th New York. He died in 1920 and was buried in Leavenworth National Cemetery in Leavenworth, Kansas. Census records indicate that Henry C. (or Harvey) Mayhew returned to his native England after the Civil War. An ancestry.com profile for him created by Nicolas Jouault indicates that his birthplace was St Pancras, England and demonstrates via census records that he was living in England again by 1871. (7) "

Very cool article, love to hear more. Thanks for bringing it here.
 
The regiments mentioned in particular the 64th Ny were among the best the Army of the Potomac had. They fought on the Peninsula and at Antietam with McClellen, fell closest to the wall at Fredricksburg, held open the tail of the army to allow the rest to retreat thru at Chancellorseville, and basically gave up the rest of it's founding members at Gettysburg.
 
I hope you do not mind me bringing a paragraph here? It is helpful dissipating the surge of bile ringing in one's ears over the bounty hunters repulsive ( can't find a strong enough word which will make it past auto - swear finder here ) plot. We find slave dealers dastardly, not a great deal of difference. Money in exchange for a life, bet these fellows found themselves standing in the same line when their turn came to try wheedling their way into Heaven, with those who made money selling a race nobody really ' owned ' either.

As usual the Irish lit their own fuse; once released from old country oppression, confinement and poverty. Pretty interesting, escaping all that walked right off he boat into the waiting arms of another set willing to see them as more helpless victims. Seem to have left both behind- love to see the next generation.I don't mean to get into modern politics but this about the Irish; brought a layer of vivid energy to the melting pot. We were a little like a paunchy, middle-aged smug man before incorporating them. Our current resentfulness on newcomers is worrying because what might we be missing excluding some potentially valuable element?

Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Yes, the Irish were abused upon our shores, terribly.

More sunlight on this is better than less.
 
Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Yes, the Irish were abused upon our shores, terribly.

More sunlight on this is better than less.


Yes, well did not wish to swipe material- it was just too, too shocking. I knew the Irish were viley treated, not that they were also pretty much swiped out of their shoes and sold. Literally sold. Theirs was a closed end term of ' ownership ', to be sure but you can't tell me the dealers in human flesh cared. They'd have done it regardless. Deserters were shot. Someone will have to explain to me the difference between one of these bounty men and a slave dealer because I see none. Like I said, no thanks to them their ' stock ' happened to at least be white men. Money and money only was their objective. If the rules stated these Irishmen were to be held in bondage forever seems to me they'd have pocketed their commission, not given it a second thought.

Hopefully something in era newspapers but can't count on it. Since the Irish were so avoided I'm guessing they got no sympathy from the general population?
 
Haven't been able to find this exact topic- yet. It's there somewhere. There are a fair amount of articles either bemoaning the state of any society inclusive of the Irish or whining about the good old days when the ' negro ' was the reliably compliant low man on the labor totem pole.

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1864

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Too weird, mention ' Irish ' substitute


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This list went on for awhile, also makes a point of listing ' Irish ' but no other nationality here.

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This one explained all the merits of working with ex-enslaved- of course ensuring ' they' ate properly supervised. Other nationalities seem to worry them hugely?

Seriously on the hunt for newspapers somewhere in the era catching wind of the original discussion.
 
Haven't been able to find this exact topic- yet. It's there somewhere. There are a fair amount of articles either bemoaning the state of any society inclusive of the Irish or whining about the good old days when the ' negro ' was the reliably compliant low man on the labor totem pole.

View attachment 81193 View attachment 81194
1864

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Thanks for posting these.

View attachment 81196
Too weird, mention ' Irish ' substitute


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This list went on for awhile, also makes a point of listing ' Irish ' but no other nationality here.

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This one explained all the merits of working with ex-enslaved- of course ensuring ' they' ate properly supervised. Other nationalities seem to worry them hugely?

Seriously on the hunt for newspapers somewhere in the era catching wind of the original discussion.

Thanks for posting these.
 
I came across an interesting website Belgians in the American Civil War. There's a lot of information there. Among other things, it identifies soldiers (North and South) of Belgian birth, state by state.

I find particularly interesting the listing for Massachusetts. The 30th, 32nd, and 35th Infantry regiments had large numbers of recently-arrived immigrant recruits (most, but not all Belgian). In the case of the 30th and 32nd, just about all of them (over 200, I'd say, without actually counting) had arrived on the same ship (the Peter Godfrey), and enlisted on the same day, 17 Sept. 1864. Thirty-eight men (all Belgians) in the 35th regiment (Cos. B & K only) all arrived on the Bellona, and enlisted on 23 July, 1864. These are probably some of the 900 or so men mentioned in Post #5 above; to which I have also referred in another thread.

jno
 
I came across an interesting website Belgians in the American Civil War. There's a lot of information there. Among other things, it identifies soldiers (North and South) of Belgian birth, state by state.

I find particularly interesting the listing for Massachusetts. The 30th, 32nd, and 35th Infantry regiments had large numbers of recently-arrived immigrant recruits (most, but not all Belgian). In the case of the 30th and 32nd, just about all of them (over 200, I'd say, without actually counting) had arrived on the same ship (the Peter Godfrey), and enlisted on the same day, 17 Sept. 1864. Thirty-eight men (all Belgians) in the 35th regiment (Cos. B & K only) all arrived on the Bellona, and enlisted on 23 July, 1864. These are probably some of the 900 or so men mentioned in Post #5 above; to which I have also referred in another thread.

jno
1864 seems to have been a big year for overseas recruiting. Thanks for sharing that.
 
The main force behind this seems to have been Col. Julian Allen, former officer in New York's Polish Legion (58th NY). The following is from the Boston Evening Transcript of 11 August 1864:
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On 22 November 1865, the U.S. Adjutant General appointed a "Commission on Enlistment of Germans as Substitutes," consisting of brevet Major-Generals Robert C. Buchannan, Gershom Mott, and Seth Williams, "to investigate and report the facts in relation to the enlistment of certain Germans into the United States service as substitutes, or otherwise, in the State of Massachusetts, in the year 1864, brought from Prussia under alleged contracts with Julian Allen and M. D. Ross, of Boston ... and hear and report such proofs and their conclusions on the evidence as may be brought before them within a reasonable time, either by the authorities of the State of mass., the Provost Marshal of the U.S., or by or on behalf of the Prussian Legation." Last quote is from The Union: a Guide to Federal Archives Relating to the Civil War, (pp.392-3), which also states: "The proceedings, other records, and final report of this commission are in trunk 4 of a special file maintained by the Adjutant General."(Record Group 94)
 
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The main force behind this seems to have been Col. Julian Allen, former officer in New York's Pulaski Legion. The following is from the Boston Evening Transcript of 11 August 1864:

On 22 November 1865, the U.S. Adjutant General appointed a "Commission on Enlistment of Germans as Substitutes," consisting of brevet Major-Generals Robert C. Buchannan, Gershom Mott, and Seth Williams, "to investigate and report the facts in relation to the enlistment of certain Germans into the United States service as substitutes, or otherwise, in the State of Massachusetts, in the year 1864, brought from Prussia under alleged contracts with Julian Allen and M. D. Ross, of Boston ... and hear and report such proofs and their conclusions on the evidence as may be brought before them within a reasonable time, either by the authorities of the State of mass., the Provost Marshal of the U.S., or by or on behalf of the Prussian Legation." Last quote is from The Union: a Guide to Federal Archives Relating to the Civil War, (pp.392-3), which also states: "The proceedings, other records, and final report of this commission are in trunk 4 of a special file maintained by the Adjutant General."(Record Group 94)
Thanks John. I appreciate this stuff. I might do an article on it next year.
 
" While three individuals were much richer ", makes me bilious 150 years later. Sorry to be eternally cranky on the topic- there was an entire war going on over slavery ( and for Heaven's sake no one yell at me- it always circles back around to this concept ), with the South, now an entire country called the Confederacy. No bones about it, no one was prevaricating- this bizarre concept where humans had a price was the South's sticking point. Someone in the North was certainly playing the war of semantics. The side supposedly dedicated to seeing to it no enslaved people existed in our country winked while importing their own.

It was a tough place for immigrants, our ancestors' personal stories notwithstanding. Go watch Elizabeth Thorn bury over 100 bodies in her cemetery, baked Pennsylvania dirt in July to save her family's home while her husband was away fighting the war. ' Or else '. The men on those boats, conditional ' freedom ', and part of an account balance. Tough, tough place.
 
" While three individuals were much richer ", makes me bilious 150 years later. Sorry to be eternally cranky on the topic- there was an entire war going on over slavery ( and for Heaven's sake no one yell at me- it always circles back around to this concept ), with the South, now an entire country called the Confederacy. No bones about it, no one was prevaricating- this bizarre concept where humans had a price was the South's sticking point. Someone in the North was certainly playing the war of semantics. The side supposedly dedicated to seeing to it no enslaved people existed in our country winked while importing their own.

It was a tough place for immigrants, our ancestors' personal stories notwithstanding. Go watch Elizabeth Thorn bury over 100 bodies in her cemetery, baked Pennsylvania dirt in July to save her family's home while her husband was away fighting the war. ' Or else '. The men on those boats, conditional ' freedom ', and part of an account balance. Tough, tough place.
The good old days, when men were men and blacks weren't.
 
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