We Need More Men…

 

Prior to April 1861 the United States Army numbered around 16,000.  Of the 197 companies that compromised that army 179 were posted on the frontier in the West, the remainder stood guard on the Mississippi River, the long border with Canada and along the east coast.

As tensions between the North and South started to rise things in the army got tense. Oddly enough no steps were taken to prepare for the war that was to come. Many people never believed that fighting would actually break out. Some thought that if it did it would be over quickly.

With Lincolns election and the secession of several Southern states,  it seemed that the hopes for a peaceful resolution were fading. Along with the rest of the country the regular army was torn asunder. Enlisted men and officers returned home to prepare for what was to come.

On the heels of the secession movement, President Lincoln put out a call for 75,000 volunteers to put down the “insurrection”. These men would serve for three months. Unfortunately this call for troops drove most of the remaining border states to join the Confederacy. As the cold war turned hot and it was obvious the three-month enlistments would not suffice. Lincoln put out another call for volunteers. This time for three years or the duration of the war.

At first men flocked to the banner and filling the quotas was not difficult to do. Before long the volunteers dried up.  Both sides would  resort to drafts to the fill the massive manpower requirements.  In the end almost 2.5 million men would serve in the army during the war. Over the course of the war almost 360,000 died and almost 300,000 wounded.