In a message dated 08/24/2003 11:39:19 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Fyodor45@aol.com writes: > Hi ...I was just wondering how many Confederate prisoners were "galvanized" > into the Union Army to serve on the frontier in exchange for their release > from the prison camps. James, I have been reading about the Galvanized Yankees for about a month now, (mostly online material) since I stumbled over them in my research of the Civil War. Can you recommend any books that go into detail about them, my knowledge is limited, but I would like to know more about them. Thanks, Salina, Chagrin Falls, OH Some history on Galvanized Yankees In September, 1864, captured soldiers of the Confederate States of America were being held at Rock Island Prison, Illinois. Conditions at the prison were dismal; small pox, dysentery, poor rations, and bleak northern winters were contributing to the deaths of many rebel inmates. Due to prison conditions being so harsh men were dying at the rate of 1 out of every 3 men. During this time, due in part to the Civil War, there was a large migration of people westward. This of course caused more contact with the American Indians in the West who were angry to see the whites coming west in large numbers and the result was bloodshed on both sides.At the same time, the United States government under President Abraham Lincoln was experiencing political pressure re guarding further troop requirements. As a result of that pressure, the president authorized the recruitment, on a voluntary basis of two regiments from among those prisoners at Rock Island for frontier outpost duty. He guaranteed that on becoming Union soldiers, these men would receive a pardon, would not be fighting their former comrades, and would be sent west, far from the battles of the Civil War. Thus, many of those incarcerated men chose to take the oath of allegiance and become soldiers in the U.S. Army. Because of this outward change of allegiance, they were likened to the iron utensils that had an outward coating to make them rust-free while not changing the inward nature, a process called galvanizing. Thus was the birth of the "Galvanized Yankees". What you saw on the outside did not necessarily represent what was on the inside. However, the six thousand Galvanized Yankees who served in our army during 1865 served as loyally as any unit, and came to be respected for their hardiness and fighting ability.

I've heard this term from my folks. My great-great-uncle Doss said that the Yanks tried to recruit him, but that none of the men in his company would sell out. Mary Fleming wrote about another incident in her memoirs -- "Mr. Yancy L. Bryan, one of our neighbors after the war, enlisted when he was about seventeen years old, served two years, and received no pay at all. He said that on one occasion he was excused from going into battle because he was barefoot and the soldiers had to go through a thick briar patch. He was told by his captain to go to the rear and do something else. Mr. Bryan was taken prisoner soon after, and was sent to Fort Douglas near Chicago, and did not return home until June, 1865. He told us that while he was a prisoner some of the officials often tried to persuade him and other prisoners to take the oath of allegiance to the United States, and then go to the West to fight the Indians. But Mr. Bryan refused, saying that he would remain in prison rather than do such a thing, that he would fight nowhere but for his own country." Georgia Fleming

Hi All, I thought I would pop in as this topic is in the relm of my research. I havent read much on the galvanized Yankees however this offer to fight for the side that held them was not only in the Northern POW sites. Here at Andersonville there was a Col. John G. O`Neil of the Confederacy who made the offer to those here at Andersonville as well as Millen Georgia and Florence South Carolina for anyone taking the oath to fight for the Confederacy could leave the stockade where here at Andersonville, there were more than 100 a day on average dying. Unlike the TNT movie showing that the prisoners turned about face and declined the offer,,,,as of March 10 1865 records showed 338 prisoners took the offer and joined the Tennessee CSA Infantry,,,( 10th Regiment I believe ). I dont have the total numbers from the other camps, but this topic has sparked my interest and I will be researching numbers on both sides. One hopes that onewould not have accepted the offer being held in either sides POW sites...but with the conditions that existed on both sides......who knows what one would do? Kevin The sound of FREEDOM is something you will never hear.......until its gone. ( UNKNOWN ) Please visit my website dedicated to those Americans who were imprisoned and died in captivity while in the service to our country Kevin Frye Local Andersonville Historian / National Park Service Volunteer http://www.angelfire.com/ga2/Andersonvilleprison/index.html ----- Original Message ----- From: "Fleming" <hyacinth@ala.net> To: <CIVIL-WAR-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, August 24, 2003 8:12 PM Subject: Re: [CIVIL-WAR] galvanized yankees