How did men join the regular army regiments during the war?

[Capt7thWvCoA]

How did men during the war join regular army regiments during the war ? How did regulars recruit men to fill empty ranks?

 

[James Brenner]

How did they recruit? With great difficulty.

That's not meant to be snarky, but it is true. The army would have recruiting stations established in major cities ( often port cities to attract immigrant recruits) and advertise for soldiers in the newspapers. The problem they encountered was that, in the popular opinion, the Army was looked upon as an organization with harsh discipline, low pay, slow promotions, and either filled with the lowest dregs of society, or with people who could not or would not get an job. The lyrics of the song, The Regular Army, O!, contains the line, "Soldier will you work?"

To compound matters, the RA was competing against volunteer units, often comprised of friends, family, and neighbors. While the pay was the same, the local nature of volunteer units (where you could elect your officers) was more attractive than being under the command of a "West Point martinet". Bounties, of course, were an incentive, but a 3 year enlistment vs. an initial 5 year one - later reduced to 3 - was often a deciding factor.

You also have to remember that most people before the war had no knowledge of the RA so almost any negative story was believable. That's why recruiting for the RA was done with great difficulty.

I hope this helps a bit.

 

[35th MA InfRegt]

How did they recruit? With great difficulty.

That's not meant to be snarky, but it is true. The army would have recruiting stations established in major cities ( often port cities to attract immigrant recruits) and advertise for soldiers in the newspapers. The problem they encountered was that, in the popular opinion, the Army was looked upon as an organization with harsh discipline, low pay, slow promotions, and either filled with the lowest dregs of society, or with people who could not or would not get an job. The lyrics of the song, The Regular Army, O!, contains the line, "Soldier will you work?"

To compound matters, the RA was competing against volunteer units, often comprised of friends, family, and neighbors. While the pay was the same, the local nature of volunteer units (where you could elect your officers) was more attractive than being under the command of a "West Point martinet". Bounties, of course, were an incentive, but a 3 year enlistment vs. an initial 5 year one - later reduced to 3 - was often a deciding factor.

You also have to remember that most people before the war had no knowledge of the RA so almost any negative story was believable. That's why recruiting for the RA was done with great difficulty.

I hope this helps a bit.

If anything, "With great difficulty" is likely a considerable understatement.

 

[Mississippian1861]

Most of the bigger cities had recruiting stations. Also you could enlist at any permanent fort or post. Before the war there was some recruitment from rural areas. I had a great Uncle from upstate South Carolina join the newly raised 1st US Cavalry in 1855. He was recruited by one of the newly appointed Captains from civil life, William DeSaussure, who would later become Colonel of the 15th South Carolina and was mortally wounded at Gettysburg.

 

[The Ninth Ohio]

Mark W Johnson's "That Body of Brave Men" talks quite a bit about the process and difficulties of recruiting for the regular service.

 

[Allyn]

My ancestor's younger brother, age 19, got together with four other young men from the same general neighborhood and joined the Regular Army, 15th Regt., for a three-year-term in the spring of 1862. Recruiters apparently came to the county seat and enlisted a substantial number of men. Initially the fellows seemed to see it as a lark, a fine adventure, and wrote home about how much they liked "soldiering." Unfortunately, it did not end well for them, as only one of the five came home.

 

[Dan Kohli]

The Regular Army had a general recruiting service who set up recruiting offices in decently sized cities. The offices would have a recruit rendezvous for health inspections and taking care of their recruits until they could send them to a recruit depot. The recruit depot is where the soldiers were supposed to be trained in infantry tactics up to school of the battalion, and how to operate various artillery pieces. After the "boot camp" the recruit would be sent to their regiment, with the regiment finishing the training. The regiments should have their own recruiting service set up in a similar manner to the general recruiting service in addition to one of the company officers being designated the recruiting officer for the company at its post.
For personnel, the recruiting parties were supposed to be a lieutenant, a nco, two privates, a drummer, and a fifer. The recruiting depot's garrison and instructors were normally made up of invalids and wounded detached from their companies, to serve out the rest of their term or until they got better.
I'm currently going from memory, but the details of Regular Army recruiting can be found in the 1861 Revised Regulations and Customs of Services for NCOs and Soldiers

 

[RedRover]

Volunteer Soldiers were recruited into the Regular Army during the war.