Regular Army

[Sheltowee]

Looking for some accounts on the effectiveness of Regulars vs. their volunteer peers. Were the regular army troops more solid in battle?

Was there much friction between the two- at the enlisted soldier level? How was their interaction?

Did regular army officers chafe under the leadership of superiors with little- to no- army background?

 

[1SGDan]

The regular Army engineers so scoffed at their volunteer counter parts being allowed to wear the engineer castle they briefly removed theirs. Ultimately both types of units performed admirably in support of their combat arms brethen. The flap over the castle insignia was soon forgotten.

 

[redbob]

Without taking anything away from the volunteers, the Regular Infantry were the go-to troops in both major theatres of war. There are two excellent books about the Regular Infantry which are: Sykes' Regular Infantry Division, 1861-1864 by Timothy J. Reese and That Brave Body of Men by Mark W. Johnson. Th first book is about the AoP and the second is about the Western armies. Because of their fighting abilities, they were often put in to the hottest positions and often received very heavy casualties. Due to the difficulty of recruiting into the Regular ranks, casualties were often not able to be replaced and as a result the Division of Regulars in the AoP pretty much ceased to exist in 1864. Even today, there is animosity between Regular military, Reservists and National Guard personnel.

 

[Sheltowee]

Without taking anything away from the volunteers, the Regular Infantry were the go-to troops in both major theatres of war. There are two excellent books about the Regular Infantry which are: Sykes' Regular Infantry Division, 1861-1864 by Timothy J. Reese and That Brave Body of Men by Mark W. Johnson. Th first book is about the AoP and the second is about the Western armies. Because of their fighting abilities, they were often put in to the hottest positions and often received very heavy casualties. Due to the difficulty of recruiting into the Regular ranks, casualties were often not able to be replaced and as a result the Division of Regulars in the AoP pretty much ceased to exist in 1864. Even today, there is animosity between Regular military, Reservists and National Guard personnel.

Seems I saw an older post stating that RA enlistment was for 5 years.
Any tangible benefit for a young man going that route- as opposed to enlisting with his chums in the local regiment? Pay the same? Better food/ equipment?

 

[jackt62]

There was a built-in aversion to volunteers from West Point trained regular army officers, although this diminished over time. Sherman, in particular, expressed his opposition outright. I believe he originally refused to officer a volunteer unit when first offered command at the beginning of the war.

 

[redbob]

Regular Army personnel enlisted for five years, regardless of how long the war lasted. Plus, they didn't receive any financial incentives for joining, discipline and training was much harder and it didn't take long for possible recruits to see that the Regulars lot in life was a tough row to hoe.