Regulars questions

[MikeyB]

Did the Union create new regular regiments, or did they replenish depleted units, like the Confederates?

Did the post-war Regular army organization look strikingly similar to the pre-war organization? Or was there a total overhaul? Perhaps more units required to guard the frontier and maintain federal interests in the reconstituted states?

 

[Rhea Cole]

I know that regular officers wound up in godforsaken posts out west. Fort Hartsuff in the Nebraska Sand Hills is where one of the regular officers who had distinguished himself at Stones River was assigned. One spent his time attempting to get a medical discharge due to war wounds. He died before the paperwork could come through. One of Custer's officers was so disabled that he could not put a coat on without assistance.
It is ironic, but the majority of U.S. Regulars never left their posts in the West. It was state volunteer regiments that did the fighting in the Civil War. Regulars with brevet & commissions of volunteers reverted to their pre-war ranks. Custer was not the only officer who bemoaned a return to the decades spent stalled in rank with no possibility of promotion.

 

[Robin Lesjovitch]

Did the Union create new regular regiments, or did they replenish depleted units, like the Confederates?

Did the post-war Regular army organization look strikingly similar to the pre-war organization? Or was there a total overhaul? Perhaps more units required to guard the frontier and maintain federal interests in the reconstituted states?

In partial answer, after Reconstruction the US Army fell on hard times. The army had kept a lot of officers from the CW both regular and volunteer services , despite the huge separations after the war. West Point still created junior officers but those officers had very little room to advance. Poor recruitment and desertions meant junior officers often commanded only a handful of men. The US army was backwards in weaponry. The Spanish -American War got the US Army up to mediocre.

 

[jackt62]

Did the Union create new regular regiments, or did they replenish depleted units, like the Confederates?

I know your question is specifically geared to the Regular Army. I don't have a solid answer but my understanding is that there were very few if any new Regular regiments created during the ACW. The overwhelming majority of new regiments were mustered into federal service in the Volunteer Army of the United States. The Union favored created new volunteer regiments rather than replenish existing ones. This was done primarily to give state governors patronage over appointing their own favorite or politically connected officers to command. The big problem with this system was that new recruits lacked the advantage of being absorbed into veteran or battle tested regiments whose experience could be essential.

 

[Don Dixon]

On 3 May 1861 Abraham Lincoln issued a second proclamation calling for 42,034 volunteers for three years' service; expanding the regular army by eight infantry, one cavalry, and one artillery regiments; and expanding the navy by 18,000 sailors. Within four months of the attack on Fort Sumter, the Federal Army grew from 16,000 men to 500,000. Neglected by the War Department, the 19 infantry regiments of the Regular Army never attained their full authorized strength during the war. Instead, the creation of state volunteer regiments afforded state governors opportunities for political patronage in the appointment of regimental officers.

After the war there was a relatively minor reorganization of the Army. Several white regiments were added, and more importantly, four black regiments were created; the 9th and 10 Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry. On 31 December 1860 the United States Army consisted on paper of 18,093 officers and men, with only 16,367 present for duty. The reorganization almost doubled the effective size of the Army. In 1865 and 1866 volunteer units, including some of the black ones, were kept on active duty to police reconstruction, and along the Mexican border [50,000 men] as a none to subtle hint to Napoleon III that he should remove his forces supporting Maximillian from Mexico.

Regards,
Don Dixon