Galvanized Yankees was a term from the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 used to refer to former Confederate

Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

 prisoners of war who had sworn allegiance to the Union

Union (American Civil War)

During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...

. Due to doubts about their ultimate loyalty, Galvanized Yankees were generally assigned to garrison forts far from the Civil War battlefields or in action against American Indians

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 in the west.

1st U.S. Volunteer Infantry

Organized at Point Lookout, Md.

Point Lookout, Maryland

Point Lookout is a Maryland state park at the southern tip of St. Mary's County, Maryland. It is a peninsula formed by the confluence of the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River....

, January 21 to April 22, 1864. Moved to Norfolk, Va.

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

, and provost duty there and at Portsmouth, Va.

Portsmouth, Virginia

Portsmouth is located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2010, the city had a total population of 95,535.The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard, is a historic and active U.S...

, District of Eastern Virginia, Dept. of Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

 and North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

, to August, 1864. Ordered to Milwaukee, Wis.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...

, thence to St. Louis, Mo.

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

, arriving there August 22. (4 Cos. remained in Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

 till September, then ordered to Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

.) Six Companies moved from St. Louis to Fort Rice

Fort Rice

Fort Rice was a frontier military fort in the 19th century in what was then Dakota Territory and what is now North Dakota....

, Dakota Territory

Dakota Territory

The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of North and South Dakota.The Dakota Territory consisted of...

, arriving there October 17, and garrison duty there; at Fort Berthold and at Fort Union, mouth of the Yellowstone

Yellowstone River

The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the western United States. Considered the principal tributary of the upper Missouri, the river and its tributaries drain a wide area stretching from the Rocky Mountains in the vicinity of the Yellowstone National...

, till October, 1865. Moved to St. Louis, Mo., and mustered out November 27, 1865. Four Companies on duty in District of Minnesota till May, 1866. Mustered out May 21, 1866.

2nd U.S. Volunteer Infantry

Organized at Rock Island Prison, Arsenal Island, Ill., October, 1864, but not organized until February 1865. Ordered to Dept. of Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

, sent by rail to Fort Leavenworth

Fort Leavenworth

Fort Leavenworth is a United States Army facility located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, immediately north of the city of Leavenworth in the upper northeast portion of the state. It is the oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C. and has been in operation for over 180 years...

 and assigned to duty in District of Upper Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

 along the Santa Fe

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...

 Road from Little Arkansas River

Little Arkansas River

The Little Arkansas River is a river located in south-central Kansas. It rises in northern Rice County just north of Lyons and flows southeast past Buhler and Halstead to meet the Arkansas River in Wichita....

 to Fort Dodge and Cimarron Crossing. From Fort Leavenworth they walked west to Fort Riley and onward, stationed by Companies at Fort Riley

Fort Riley

Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in Northeast Kansas, on the Kansas River, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 100,656 acres in Geary and Riley counties and includes two census-designated places: Fort Riley North and Fort...

, Salem, Fort Ellsworth (Kansas)

Fort Ellsworth (Kansas)

In June 1864 soldiers from the 7th Iowa Cavalry, under the command of 2nd Lt. Allen Ellsworth, established a fort four miles southeast of the site that eventually became Ellsworth, Kansas. A two-story blockhouse was built there. In July Maj. Gen. Samuel Curtis, the department commander, named the...

, Fort Larned, Fort Zarah

Fort Zarah

A fort in Barton County, Kansas, just outside Great Bend, Kansas, that was used from 1864-1869.- Dates of operation :In July 1864, because of frequent Indian attacks in the area, Camp Dunlap was established 2 miles east of present day Great Bend, Kansas, where the Santa Fe Trail crossed the Walnut...

 and Fort Scott

Fort Scott National Historic Site

Fort Scott National Historic Site is a historical area under the control of the United States National Park Service in Bourbon County, Kansas, United States. Named after Mexican-American War General Winfield Scott, during the middle of the 19th century it served as a military base for army action...

, Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

. Members of the regiment involved in establishing Fort Dodge (US Army Post)

Fort Dodge (US Army Post)

The site of Fort Dodge in the US state of Kansas was originally an old campground for wagons traveling along the Santa Fe Trail. A military camp was established on the site in 1864, but was abandoned....

 in the summer of 1865. Duties involved scout and wagon train escort duty and operating against Indians till November, 1865. Members of the regiment were present as guards at the signing of the Little Arkansas Treaty

Little Arkansas Treaty

The Little Arkansas Treaty was a set of treaties signed between the United States of America and the Kiowa, Comanche, Plains Apache, Southern Cheyenne, and Southern Arapaho at Little Arkansas River, Kansas in October 1865...

. Mustered out at Fort Leavenworth

Fort Leavenworth

Fort Leavenworth is a United States Army facility located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, immediately north of the city of Leavenworth in the upper northeast portion of the state. It is the oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C. and has been in operation for over 180 years...

 November 7, 1865.

3rd U.S. Volunteer Infantry

Organized at Rock Island, Ill

Rock Island, Illinois

Rock Island is the county seat of Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The population was 40,884 at the 2010 census. Located on the Mississippi River, it is one of the Quad Cities, along with neighboring Moline, East Moline, and the Iowa cities of Davenport and Bettendorf. The Quad Cities...

., October, 1864. Ordered to Dept. of Missouri, arriving at Fort Kearney, Neb., April 9, 1865, and assigned to duty in the District of Nebraska

Nebraska

Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....

 and Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

. Stationed by Companies. "A" and "B" at Fort Kearney, "E" and "F" at Fort Rankin, "G" and "H" at Julesburg Junction, Colo., and "C" and "D" at Cottonwood protecting overland mail routes from Indian attacks. Skirmish at Elm Creek

Elm Creek, Nebraska

Elm Creek is a village in Buffalo County, Nebraska, United States. It is part of the Kearney, Nebraska Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 894 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Elm Creek is located at ....

 May 20, 1865. Mustered out November 29, 1865.

4th U.S. Volunteer Infantry

Organized at Point Lookout, Md., October 31, 1864. Duty at Portsmouth, Va., District of Eastern Virginia, Dept. of Virginia and North Carolina, and in District of the Northwest, Dept. of Missouri, till July, 1866. Mustered out July 2, 1866.

5th U.S. Volunteer Infantry

Organized at Alton and Camp Douglas, Ill

Camp Douglas (Chicago)

Camp Douglas, in Chicago, Illinois, was a Union Army prisoner-of-war camp for Confederate soldiers taken prisoner during the American Civil War. It was also a training and detention camp for Union soldiers. The Union Army first used the camp in 1861 as an organizational and training camp for...

., March to May, 1865. Ordered to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, May 3, 1865. Assigned to duty in District of Upper Arkansas from Little Arkansas River to Fort Dodge and Cimarron Crossing. Duty in Districts of Nebraska, Colorado and Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

 and the Plains

Great Plains

The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...

 till November, 1866. Mustered out November 13, 1866.

6th U.S. Volunteer Infantry

Organized at Columbus, Ohio

Columbus, Ohio

Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...

, Camp Morton, Ind.

Camp Morton

Camp Morton was a Union prisoner-of-war camp located in Indianapolis, Indiana during the American Civil War. It was named for Indiana governor Oliver Morton, who was the governor of Indiana during the War. It lasted from 1861-1865...

, and Camp Douglas, Ill., April 2, 1865. Ordered to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, May, 1865, arriving there May 11. Moved to Fort Kearney, Neb., May 14; thence to Julesburg, Colo. Duty in District of the Plains and Utah till November, 1866. Mustered out November 3, 1866.

See also

• Ahl's Heavy Artillery Company
  Ahl's Heavy Artillery Company
  Ahl's Independent Company, Heavy Artillery was an heavy artillery battery that served in the Union army in the American Civil War...
  
  
• Major Dundee
  Major Dundee
  Major Dundee is a 1965 Western film written by Harry Julian Fink and directed by Sam Peckinpah. It starred Charlton Heston and Richard Harris as officers from opposing sides in the American Civil War who band together to hunt down a band of Apaches....
  
  
• David DeLafayette Franklin - Galvanized Yankee