Galvanized Rebels

[ErnieMac]

In reply to a thread in the Ladies Tea Forum about Eliza Frances Andrews I mentioned that one of her brothers, Lt. Col. Garnett Andrews, Jr. served as the commander of the 2nd Confederate Foreign Battalion (later renamed the 8th Confederate Battalion. Subsequent posts by @bayouace and @NH Civil War Gal indicated they were unfamiliar with the 'foreign' units and wanted additional information.

I have been familiar for a good number of years with the fact that Confederate POWs were enrolled in the U.S. Army and own a book written titled The Galvanized Yankees written by Dee Brown (more famous as the author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee). Those soldiers were sent to serve in the West on order of General Grant to protect them from retribution should they be captured fighting against the Confederacy. About 10 years ago while reading the book Stoneman's Raid, 1865 by Chris J. Hartley I learned the Confederates in like manner enrolled Federal POWs to serve with the Confederate armies. Hartley noted the presence of an artillery battery manned by former Union POWs at the Battle of Salisbury (April 12, 1865). Hartley related that the men of the battery, when encountering the Federal cavalry, fired their guns into the air and surrendered en masse.

I have subsequently learned the identities of a number of those units. It seems that MG Lafayette McLaws was instrumental in their formation. The order authorizing the units directed the recruiting effort toward French and Irish nationals and some Germans. U.S. citizens were not to be recruited. The following link provides details on those units.

McLaws' Foreign Battalion

It was in March 1865 that General William T. Sherman and an army totaling 60,000 veterans, worked their way north through the Carolinas. Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston had been re-assigned to lead an amalgam of forces to defend against an enemy that was looking to link up with Grant in...

www.westerntheatercivilwar.com

 

[Michael C. Hardy]

You might want to check out this book:

 

[East Tennessee Roots]

In reply to a thread in the Ladies Tea Forum about Eliza Frances Andrews I mentioned that one of her brothers, Lt. Col. Garnett Andrews, Jr. served as the commander of the 2nd Confederate Foreign Battalion (later renamed the 8th Confederate Battalion. Subsequent posts by @bayouace and @NH Civil War Gal indicated they were unfamiliar with the 'foreign' units and wanted additional information.

I have been familiar for a good number of years with the fact that Confederate POWs were enrolled in the U.S. Army and own a book written titled The Galvanized Yankees written by Dee Brown (more famous as the author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee). Those soldiers were sent to serve in the West on order of General Grant to protect them from retribution should they be captured fighting against the Confederacy. About 10 years ago while reading the book Stoneman's Raid, 1865 by Chris J. Hartley I learned the Confederates in like manner enrolled Federal POWs to serve with the Confederate armies. Hartley noted the presence of an artillery battery manned by former Union POWs at the Battle of Salisbury (April 12, 1865). Hartley related that the men of the battery, when encountering the Federal cavalry, fired their guns into the air and surrendered en masse.

I have subsequently learned the identities of a number of those units. It seems that MG Lafayette McLaws was instrumental in their formation. The order authorizing the units directed the recruiting effort toward French and Irish nationals and some Germans. U.S. citizens were not to be recruited. The following link provides details on those units.

McLaws' Foreign Battalion

It was in March 1865 that General William T. Sherman and an army totaling 60,000 veterans, worked their way north through the Carolinas. Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston had been re-assigned to lead an amalgam of forces to defend against an enemy that was looking to link up with Grant in...

www.westerntheatercivilwar.com

Northerners who travelled South to enlist in the Confederacy? | Questions? Ask Here! No Stone Left Unturned!

I've been wondering if there are any examples of this for a while. I learned of two individuals from my State who at the very least opposed the Union's role in the war verbally; Lysander Spooner, an abolitionist who compared the Union's effort to stop Southern secession to a master's effort to...

civilwartalk.com

 

[DorwinBlack]

I have subsequently learned the identities of a number of those units. It seems that MG Lafayette McLaws was instrumental in their formation. The order authorizing the units directed the recruiting effort toward French and Irish nationals and some Germans. U.S. citizens were not to be recruited. The following link provides details on those units.

McLaws' Foreign Battalion

It was in March 1865 that General William T. Sherman and an army totaling 60,000 veterans, worked their way north through the Carolinas. Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston had been re-assigned to lead an amalgam of forces to defend against an enemy that was looking to link up with Grant in...

www.westerntheatercivilwar.com

I know that these galvanized units were generally referred to as "foreign battalions" however, it does not seem to me that they were very strict about not recruiting US citizens. How would they even know? The South was so desperate for troops at the end of the war that I doubt they enforced the non-US citizen requirement rigidly.

I know my ancestor was recruited to Tucker's Regiment out of Salisbury Prison even though he was US citizen born in Ohio. His paternal grandfather was a Scottish immigrant, and I often wonder if he just affected a Scottish accent in order to get recruited.

 

[ErnieMac]

I know that these galvanized units were generally referred to as "foreign battalions" however, it does not seem to me that they were very strict about not recruiting US citizens. How would they even know? The South was so desperate for troops at the end of the war that I doubt they enforced the non-US citizen requirement rigidly.

I know my ancestor was recruited to Tucker's Regiment out of Salisbury Prison even though he was US citizen born in Ohio. His paternal grandfather was a Scottish immigrant, and I often wonder if he just affected a Scottish accent in order to get recruited.

I agree. I don't imagine the Confederates were too picky in the selection process and the POWs were desperate.

 

[bayouace]

In reply to a thread in the Ladies Tea Forum about Eliza Frances Andrews I mentioned that one of her brothers, Lt. Col. Garnett Andrews, Jr. served as the commander of the 2nd Confederate Foreign Battalion (later renamed the 8th Confederate Battalion. Subsequent posts by @bayouace and @NH Civil War Gal indicated they were unfamiliar with the 'foreign' units and wanted additional information.

I have been familiar for a good number of years with the fact that Confederate POWs were enrolled in the U.S. Army and own a book written titled The Galvanized Yankees written by Dee Brown (more famous as the author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee). Those soldiers were sent to serve in the West on order of General Grant to protect them from retribution should they be captured fighting against the Confederacy. About 10 years ago while reading the book Stoneman's Raid, 1865 by Chris J. Hartley I learned the Confederates in like manner enrolled Federal POWs to serve with the Confederate armies. Hartley noted the presence of an artillery battery manned by former Union POWs at the Battle of Salisbury (April 12, 1865). Hartley related that the men of the battery, when encountering the Federal cavalry, fired their guns into the air and surrendered en masse.

I have subsequently learned the identities of a number of those units. It seems that MG Lafayette McLaws was instrumental in their formation. The order authorizing the units directed the recruiting effort toward French and Irish nationals and some Germans. U.S. citizens were not to be recruited. The following link provides details on those units.

McLaws' Foreign Battalion

It was in March 1865 that General William T. Sherman and an army totaling 60,000 veterans, worked their way north through the Carolinas. Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston had been re-assigned to lead an amalgam of forces to defend against an enemy that was looking to link up with Grant in...

www.westerntheatercivilwar.com

Thank you! Added to my knowledge.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

From the article @ErnieMac posted:

"Lieutenant General William J Hardee called them the "foreign battalion," but they quickly proved fully worthless in Savannah's defense, and Hardee requested their dissolution. At one point, the battalion mutinied, and the last thing a Confederate army needed in 1865 was a mutiny. "Any future effort of recruitment be prohibited," read one order, yet In March, 1865 Johnston's army needed bodies. The foreign battalions were used again...at least for a little while."

He doesn't say what they mutinied over, and I'm not sure if it was disbanded. But since I'm currently reading about Spanish Fort in March of 1865, the CSA is having another set of woes over there. Not enough men, robbing the cradle to the grave, etc.

I find it interesting that by this point, the CSA, at least in the very Southern points really only preferred Frenchmen and NO native citizens or German immigrants.

 

[TallTallMan]

You might want to check out this book:

View attachment 520904

You usually don't hear about that!

The big questions are if they

1. made good soldiers (probably not; you'll do anything to get out of prison)
2. what they did after they lost?

 

[Stryker65]

I would encourage to read about the 10th Tennessee Irish -- a battalion of several hundred Irish-American Union POWs -- at the Battle of Egypt Station. @ErnieMac the unit was given a chapter at the end of that Dee Brown book -- you probably know of this unit already. Probably the only Galvanized Rebels unit to actually see combat.

 

[Bloody7th]

I know this is an old thread, but I've written a history of Brooks' Battalion, one of the first "foreign battalions" recruited by the Confederacy out of the Florence Stockade. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CVB7CQ93?tag=civilwartalkc-20