Union Recruitment
During the Civil War the Union Recruited many volunteer regiments, the amount of men they were able to rally up was an advantage over the Confederacy with the Confederate numbers being significantly smaller on the battlefield in comparison to the Union numbers. This would help them on the battlefield. There were multiple methods of recruiting, one of which were speeches, which often did not include counterarguments to enlisting1. Other methods ranged from posters to house visits. While there was also societal pressure to enlist in the war effort.
Former Massachusetts Governor Nathaniel Banks was appointed to Major General by Lincoln due to his influence in National politics. Lincoln believed that Banks would attract more people to the Union cause2. Later In November of 1862 Major General Banks would be reassigned to the position of commander for the Army of the Gulf3 which served the area by the Gulf Coast including the Trans Mississippi states of Texas and Louisiana. Recruiting 30,000 from the New England Region4. Major General Nathaniel Banks is an example of the recruitment methods used by the Union across the country, using people with influence to recruit soldiers. Although Banks, as stated previously, was believed to be able to attract more people to the war effort, the best word for it would be a talent, a talent for recruiting.
In terms of the recruitment in the Trans Mississippi it was done mostly as the Union pushed their way through this part of the Confederacy, with recruitment offices appearing as the Union forces infiltrated the Confederacy5. An example of this being done is in Springfield Missouri in July 1862 with the First Arkansa Calvary6. Which later fought in the Battle of Prairie Grove7. Many southern Unionist would recruit when the Union forces infiltrated the Confederacy, many of which were immigrants. Immigrants would make up a large chuck of the First Louisiana Cavalry8, out of the men in the First Louisiana Cavalry 50.3% were native born and 49.7% immigrants9. It is clear they were still recruiting while in the Trans Mississippi in a letter by Brigadier General John McAllister Schofield in June of 1862 where he discusses Captain Murphy being authorized to fill his company to maximum capacity10. Overall in the Trans Mississippi the Union utilized the Unionist in the south recruiting them in the recruitment offices that were to appear as they infiltrated the Confederacy.
1 Reed-Wood, Louis W. “‘These Fishers of Men’: The Discourse of Recruitment in the Civil War North.” University of Calgary, 2018. 20. https://prism.ucalgary.ca/server/api/core/bitstreams/f6dd3b20-5db9-44dd-a0dd-4504e285f640/content
2 “Nathaniel Banks.” American Battlefield Trust. Accessed November 22, 2023. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/nathaniel-banks.
3 “Nathaniel Banks.” American Battlefield Trust. Accessed November 22, 2023. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/nathaniel-banks.
4 “Nathaniel Banks.” American Battlefield Trust. Accessed November 22, 2023. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/nathaniel-banks.
5 Rein, Christopher. "Trans-Mississippi Southerners in the Union Army, 1862-1865" LSU Master's Theses, 2001. 12. https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/748.
6“Civil War Recruitment.” Encyclopedia of Arkansas, January 19, 2022. https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/civil-war-recruitment-6391/#:~:text=As%20early%20as%20summer%201862,as%20the%20First%20Arkansas%20Cavalry.
7 “Battle Unit Details.” National Parks Service. Accessed November 22, 2023. https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battle-units-detail.htm?battleUnitCode=UAR0001RC.
8Rein, Christopher. "Trans-Mississippi Southerners in the Union Army, 1862-1865" LSU Master's Theses, 2001. 14. https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/748
9 Rein, Christopher. "Trans-Mississippi Southerners in the Union Army, 1862-1865" LSU Master's Theses, 2001. 30. https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/748.
10 “Correspondence Report of Brigadier General John McAllister Schofield”, June 17, 1862. The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Vol XIII, Chap. 25, Pg 436. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924079609578&view=1up&seq=450&q1=recruit.