"Galvanized Rebels"

Biscoitos

First Sergeant
Joined
May 14, 2020
Surely most everyone on CWT is familiar with “Galvanized Yankees”

While looking through the CMSRs of men in the First Missouri Infantry (Riley’s) CS Army, I noticed that about 140 of the approx. 290 men who served in Co. A are listed as “Federal recruit mustered into C.S. service” or similar remarks. Their very brief records include their names being on a receipt roll for clothing in November 1864 for clothing.

Other than the 10th Tenn Cavalry, USA, which had a number of men to enlist in the CS Army in order to be released from Andersonville, I am not aware of any other groups of “Galvanized Rebels”

Has anyone else found any records of other “Galvanized Rebels?”

Does anyone out there have facts or information about the Galvanized Rebels in the First Missouri Inf. CS Army?
 
My understanding is that the term "galvanized" comes from the process of covering blue-ish covered steal with a thin layer of gray zinc to prevent rusting, changing your bucket from blue to gray; and so it is applied to boys in blue who "turned gray."

I know that after the Second Battle of Fort Sumter, two of the sailors captured, Beebe and Hill, promptly took the Oath of Allegiance to the Confederacy and changed sides, although it's not clear what happened to them after that, or if they served in the Confederate Navy. I know William Beebe was an Englishman, and so I always guessed that he signed on more in hopes of earning prize money from the sale of captured goods than from patriotic loyalty. Either side was better than a POW camp, I suppose.
 
Burke’s Battalion, 10th​ Tennessee Infantry (“Irish Volunteers”): Michael Burke’s Battalion was captured at Egypt Station, Mississippi,
by Federal Cavalry raiders under Major General Benjamin Grierson on 28 December 1864. The battalion consisted of “galvanized” Confederates; Federal prisoners of war who had been recruited at the prisoner of war camps at Andersonville and Millen, Georgia, and who had sworn an oath to the Confederacy. After they were captured, they were moved to the Federal prison at Alton, Illinois. On 5 March 1865 Major General Grenville M. Dodge recommended that they and some Confederate prisoners be enlisted in the U.S. Volunteer Infantry for service in the west against the Indian Peoples. This recommendation was initially resisted by the Judge Advocate General’s Office, since testimony from Federal officers at the Battle at Egypt Station indicated that some of the men had resisted capture until their ammunition ran out. Ultimately Dodge’s recommendation was accepted. Forming most of Companies C and D, 5th​ U.S.V.I., the men served at Fort Reno, Wyoming, and the survivors were finally discharged at Fort Kearney, Nebraska, on 11 October 1866.

Regards,
Don Dixon
 
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I believe there were some men from South Illinois who served in a TN CSA regiment. Southern Illinois, Indiana and Ohio were called the butternut region, because of the large number of southerners who went there.
 
I believe there were some men from South Illinois who served in a TN CSA regiment. Southern Illinois, Indiana and Ohio were called the butternut region, because of the large number of southerners who went there.
Was their original enlistment in a CSA unit, or did they serve in the US army and later join the CS army?

Men from northern states who voluntarily joined the CS military are a very interesrting topic.
But my post directly focuses on men who were in US forces first, and later joined the CS.
 
Burke’s Battalion, 10th​ Mississippi Infantry (“Irish Volunteers”): Michael Burke’s Battalion was captured at Egypt Station, Mississippi,
by Federal Cavalry raiders under Major General Benjamin Grierson on 28 December 1864. The battalion consisted of “galvanized” Confederates; Federal prisoners of war who had been recruited at the prisoner of war camps at Andersonville and Millen, Georgia, and who had sworn an oath to the Confederacy. After they were captured, they were moved to the Federal prison at Alton, Illinois. On 5 March 1865 Major General Grenville M. Dodge recommended that they and some Confederate prisoners be enlisted in the U.S. Volunteer Infantry for service in the west against the Indian Peoples. This recommendation was initially resisted by the Judge Advocate General’s Office, since testimony from Federal officers at the Battle at Egypt Station indicated that some of the men had resisted capture until their ammunition ran out. Ultimately Dodge’s recommendation was accepted. Forming most of Companies C and D, 5th​ U.S.V.I., the men served at Fort Reno, Wyoming, and the survivors were finally discharged at Fort Kearney, Nebraska, on 11 October 1866.

Regards,
Don Dixon
Thank you for the information and actually answering with evidence, not just speculation.
An excellent post.
 
Burke’s Battalion, 10th​ Mississippi Infantry (“Irish Volunteers”): Michael Burke’s Battalion was captured at Egypt Station, Mississippi,
by Federal Cavalry raiders under Major General Benjamin Grierson on 28 December 1864. The battalion consisted of “galvanized” Confederates; Federal prisoners of war who had been recruited at the prisoner of war camps at Andersonville and Millen, Georgia, and who had sworn an oath to the Confederacy. After they were captured, they were moved to the Federal prison at Alton, Illinois. On 5 March 1865 Major General Grenville M. Dodge recommended that they and some Confederate prisoners be enlisted in the U.S. Volunteer Infantry for service in the west against the Indian Peoples. This recommendation was initially resisted by the Judge Advocate General’s Office, since testimony from Federal officers at the Battle at Egypt Station indicated that some of the men had resisted capture until their ammunition ran out. Ultimately Dodge’s recommendation was accepted. Forming most of Companies C and D, 5th​ U.S.V.I., the men served at Fort Reno, Wyoming, and the survivors were finally discharged at Fort Kearney, Nebraska, on 11 October 1866.

Regards,
Don Dixon
I believe that Burke's unit was the 10th Tennessee, not Mississippi
 
Surely most everyone on CWT is familiar with “Galvanized Yankees”

While looking through the CMSRs of men in the First Missouri Infantry (Riley’s) CS Army, I noticed that about 140 of the approx. 290 men who served in Co. A are listed as “Federal recruit mustered into C.S. service” or similar remarks. Their very brief records include their names being on a receipt roll for clothing in November 1864 for clothing.

Other than the 10th Tenn Cavalry, USA, which had a number of men to enlist in the CS Army in order to be released from Andersonville, I am not aware of any other groups of “Galvanized Rebels”

Has anyone else found any records of other “Galvanized Rebels?”

Does anyone out there have facts or information about the Galvanized Rebels in the First Missouri Inf. CS Army?
 
Some units were formed by northern prisoners of foreign birth. These are the units of 'Galvanized rebels':

-1st Confederate Foreingn Infantry Battalion (or 1st Foreign Legion Infantry Battalion), then Tucker's Pioneer Regiment.
-2nd Confederate Foreingn Infantry Battalion (or 8th Infantry Battalion).
-Brooks' Confederate Infantry Battalion.
-Brush's Confederate Infantry Battalion (some Union prisoners, but mostly Confederate prisoners and deserters).
-a battalion of prisoners of war, was organized in Mobile in 1864 but at this time I do not remember the sources.
 
Was their original enlistment in a CSA unit, or did they serve in the US army and later join the CS army?

Men from northern states who voluntarily joined the CS military are a very interesrting topic.
But my post directly focuses on men who were in US forces first, and later joined the CS.
I believe you are right. I don't think they were in US forces first. I will check.
 
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Info on the 10th TN Infantry CSA can be found in the following:
ORA Series II, Volume 8, pp. 124-126; 358-359 and 554.
 
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