One of the blogs that this one offers a link to is Emerging Civil War, which generally offers some interesting articles on a variety of topics.
Earlier today I read a guest post by Nathan Marzoli, a historian at the U.S. Army Center of Military History in Washington, D.C. about the late war recruits of the Union Army. Lukewarm Patriots: Examining the Pension Files of Late-War Recruits in One Union Regiment gives some insight, based on examination of some of the pension files of the 12th New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry, into the circumstances of the men who enlisted after the initial waves of recruits into the Union Army at a time when the country was becoming increasingly tired of the war. Marzoli concludes that
The story of the Union soldier – carved out by the likes of Wiley, McPherson, Mitchell, and Robertson – may not yet be complete. In the final year of the war, the remaining volunteers of 1861 in the East were joined by thousands of Union recruits, substitutes, and draftees in their final fight against the Army of Northern Virginia. The stories of these men, no matter their motivations or the circumstances surrounding their enlistment, deserve to be told.
It’s an interesting read – I found myself wanting to know more. Most of the accounts that exist from soldiers of the 17th Connecticut also come from those soldiers who entered service with the regiment in 1862. What about those who came later? For some, their story is clear. For example, Anthony Comstock, served with Company H, for which he is not remembered much at all. He is much better known for his morality crusades following the war, culminating in the Comstock Act of 1873. He enlisted in December 1863 following the wounding and subsequent death of his brother, Samuel following Gettysburg. For others, why did they enlist?
It’s something that would be worth looking at. A quick glance at the roster of Company E shows a few enlistees from 1863 on. Horace E. Banks was mustered into the regiment (along with his 18-year-old brother Wesley) on December 30, 1863, 4 months after his 20th birthday. He served the rest of the war and mustered out with the regiment in 1865, applying for an invalid pension in 1891. In 1917, while living at Fitch’s Home for Soldiers at Noroton Heights in Connecticut, he dutifully completed the Military Census form for the state, where he listed his war service with the 17th CVI. Horace Banks died in 1932…and 21 years later a veterans grave marker was ordered for his grave.
Lewis Roche, listed as a resident of Roxbury, CT, also mustered in with the other recruits in December 1863. Roche dies in the regimental hospital in St. Augustine, Florida in January 1865. There isn’t much more in the easily accessible records on Private Roche.
It’s an interesting topic that I don’t think many people have looked at, and hopefully we’ll see more about these soldiers of the late war period.