kay bradley wrote: > > Would anyone have documentation of how the Irish were recruited to fight in > the Civil War? What incentives were offerred and how exactly was the > citizenship handled? Was there an oath of allegiance which was mandatory, > and can I get a copy of any of these documents? - --------------------------------- Kay, Starting out, men readily volunteered on their own for various and sundry reasons. The Irish were also motivated by the belief that the war would be good training, that they could organize an army of seasoned vets after the war and liberate Ireland. How many actually did join for this reason is really anybody's guess. Another reason Irish enlisted was to show that they were as American and part of the local community as anyone else. There were communities which promised to assist soldiers' wives and families, but most incentives didn't come about right away. Recruiting meetings were held to drum up enlistments. Could best describe these as something like a revival. A call for enlistments in the North was actually levying a quota on each State, which then was passed down to the local level. To help meet the quotas, cities, states, and the Federal government offered to pay a bounty, often amounting to several hundred dollars, to anyone who enlisted. Conscription also figures in all this, mainly in negative ways. Only volunteers got a bounty, so if someone was worried about being drafted, they might have taken the view of volunteering and getting a tidy sum of money. Usually, they also got to decide what regiment they wished to enlist in; draftees didn't. But one of the things wrong with the conscription bill was it allowed people to escape service by paying someone to serve in their stead, which lead to the creation of a new life form: the substitute broker. Both sides employed conscription, and both allowed substitutes. The broker would try to gather potential subs, often in unscrupluous ways, and arrange a price with clients. I'm only speculating, but I've a suspicion most of the money that was paid went to the broker. Some Union recruiting agents went to Ireland to entice Irishmen to emigrate with promises of factory jobs. Once they got the Irish over here, they herded them into the Army instead. At least one person tried to put together a similar scam for the South, but when CS Secretary of War Seddon found out, he squashed it. To encourage re-enlistments, the Federal government offered a 30 day furlough, plus a bounty. The chance to go home, even though it meant having to go back, was a big enducement. Unit-pride also figured in: if enough men in a regiment re-upped, they got to keep their unit intact. Record of bounties should be in the soldier's service record. There was no requirement to become a citizen; and normally the only oath with be that of enlistment, which would be part of the soldier's service record. There were loyalty oaths, but these were generally only inflicted on those known or suspected of not being loyal. Don't know what the CS naturalization law was, but the US law was amended in 1862 to allow honorably discharged Army vets to petition for naturalization--without previously having filed a declaration of intent--after only 1 year of residence in the US. Dennis mailto:fran@ees.eesc.com