Demographics of older recruits

[Hank Trent]

Are there any studies on the demographics of older recruits in the Civil War, especially Union or early-war Confederate when it wasn't a matter of desperation or fear of the draft? Let's say in the 40-plus age range, serving as privates?

I'm curious what motivated them to enlist, things like...

Were they generally single, poor, unattached, with the army looking like a good last chance for guaranteed wages?

Or were they generally set up comfortably at home, children grown, business run by associates providing income for the wife, and off for a mid-life adventure?

Were a high proportion veterans of the Mexican War or Indian conflicts, or was it usually their first time in combat?

Did they usually join along with their younger sons, nephews, etc.? Or were they more apt to have brothers, cousins or neighbors of their generation alongside them?

With a lot of reenactors in the "older" age bracket for recruits, I'm curious if anyone has studied the original older recruits and seen any patterns emerge.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[ScottCross]

Re: Demographics of older recruits

Hank,

This is a pretty tall order. I have not found any published work as comprehensive as you are looking at. I am going through all the records of Civil War veterans (both from and later residents) of Winnebago County, WI. I hope to post it later today. My initial research shows that fate was not very kind to the 40+ year old men who enlisted.

[5th Texas]

Re: Demographics of older recruits

I'm curious what motivated them to enlist, things like...

Were they generally single, poor, unattached, with the army looking like a good last chance for guaranteed wages?

Hank,
You seem to take a pretty dim view of the realm of motivation.
I would say the overwhelming motives for enlisting on both sides were (regardless of age):

Patriotism. Preserve the Union / Preserve the integrity of the South.
Love of their "country" (meaning their state, county, region, town.
The feeling that they were walking in the footsteps of the Revolutionary War generation....

[Hank Trent]

Re: Demographics of older recruits

Hank,
You seem to take a pretty dim view of the realm of motivation.
I would say the overwhelming motives for enlisting on both sides were (regardless of age):

Patriotism. Preserve the Union / Preserve the integrity of the South.
Love of their "country" (meaning their state, county, region, town.
The feeling that they were walking in the footsteps of the Revolutionary War generation....

But the difference is, comparatively few 40+ year olds enlisted, compared to 20 year olds. It would be a dim view of patriotism to assume it dropped so dramatically with age.

On the contrary, I'd guess that older men expressed their patriotism in different ways, depending on their health, talents, and position in the community--serving in public office, writing articles or giving speeches, supporting the families of their sons who had enlisted, recruiting companies and serving as officers, collecting and distributing funds for relief organizations, etc.

If patriotism was the motivation, the question still remains, what was typical of the 40+ year olds who expressed their patriotism by serving as privates, instead of other ways?

The reason for my original question is quite simple, and I'm surprised it hasn't been hashed and rehashed before, but I haven't turned up anything in a search.

I'll be portraying a Union private assigned as an orderly, and it's one of those situations where you portray a typical private, rather than a specific historic person. I can't pass for much younger than a healthy man in his early 40s. So what is typical for the unusual situation of a 40+ year old private? Rich? Poor? Widower? Married? Serving with younger relatives or alone? You can't just use the usual reasons like, "Well, all the other 44-year-olds in the neighborhood were enlisting..." :)

As Scott noted, the one thing that jumped out at me, even without trying, is that not many made it through the war without health-related problems. But I'm curious if research has been done on other aspects.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Huck]

Re: Demographics of older recruits

In reading this thread, I have gotten the impression that the real question is.... how does one deal with a hobby were as you grown older, you are no longer the average age of those whom you are portraying. How does one explain or shape their impression around your real physical age and do it in a manner that is authentic.

[Hank Trent]

Re: Demographics of older recruits

In reading this thread, I have gotten the impression that the real question is.... how does one deal with a hobby were as you grown older, you are no longer the average age of those whom you are portraying. How does one explain or shape their impression around your real physical age and do it in a manner that is authentic.

Well, not really. If one opens the question up that far, there are other possible solutions. For example, portraying a younger soldier in words, actions, and everything but appearance. Or trying to look as young as possible with hair dye, etc. Or what I usually do, portraying what someone my age would typically be doing--remaining a civilian.

In this particular situation, though, what I've already decided is to give the best individual impression I can, without worrying about the overall average impression of everyone there. That means I'll be interpreting to the public what the decision to enlist was like for a typical 40+ year old, while drawing the distinction between me and the members of "Young America" who make up the vast majority of the army... even if they don't seem to be around at the moment.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[5th Texas]

Re: Demographics of older recruits

Hank,

As you said, a good many 40+ men felt they could best serve the cause as politicians, managers of industry, professional men (doctors, lawyers, etc.).
At some point though, as the casualty lists grew longer, or perhaps when a son was listed among the dead, I suspect many men felt it was time to put down the quill and pick up a musket.
All of us who have moved past age 40 have had that moment where we refuse to believe that our bodies are no longer equal to our imaginations. ;)

[AZFarrier]

Re: Demographics of older recruits

OK I would like to put my 2 cents in. I remember shortly after September 11th there was a influx of recruits to the military, more so there were older men and women who would show up, wanting to enlist. I do remember the news even reporting that a 72 year old gentelman even tried to enlist. I believe the same strong feelings were felt back then as today. During that time period Americans were loyal to their state rather then their country. I mean for the south, the majority of the population thought that they were being invaded. In the north though, there was the abolition movement. Recent events have taught us all that if a group believes in some goal enough, they will achieve that goal, or at least die trying. Now I know that there were a lot more reasons that soldiers enlisted but these are 2 examples that come to mind.

I do have to laugh though. Reading this article, I'm reminded of the John Wayne movie "The Horse Soldiers". The movie was a Hollywood version of Griersons Raid in 1863. Any way When the Doctor was weeding out the men. He asked a grey haired private " How old are you?" at which the reply "I'm 32 Sir ( in an old raspy voice)!"

Andy Miller
1st CAL Cav
Arizona Rangers

[Hank Trent]

Re: Demographics of older recruits

Now I know that there were a lot more reasons that soldiers enlisted but these are 2 examples that come to mind.

See my post #4 above.

We can imagine any number of scenarios why any particular older man might want to join the army while his same-generation neighbors wouldn't, but I'm interested in any data on the demographics.

I think this thread is going to set the record for number of words expended to say, "any studies on this? nope, don't know of any." :D

I can run through a company or two and the 1860 census and see what I turn up, which I'll do and post it here, but it would be cool to see it already done on a larger scale, to see if any stronger patterns emerge for a larger sample.

It really does surprise me that with the well-known phenomenon of more older reenactors portraying soldiers, more people haven't thought to themselves, "I wonder what background was PEC for a 40+ recruit?" and done a study. Even if the answer is, the recruits' background matched exactly the average background of all 40-45 year olds, from wealth to number of young children at home to prior military service, that in itself would be interesting, because I'd expect to see some trend. I'd think a dairy farmer with a high mortgage, six children under ten and a wife, just isn't going to be as apt to express his patriotism by enlisting, as a single day laborer with grown children and fond memories of the Mexican War. But I dunno. That's why I'm curious. :)

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Hank Trent]

Re: Demographics of older recruits

Okay, here's a quick sample of 40-year-old and older recruits of Co. A, 9th Michigan, based on the roster here: http://www.michiganinthewar.org/infantry/9compa.htm

Out of 201 privates, 13 were 40+. The sample's so tiny it's not really worth anything statistically, but one trend showed up: the older recruits were more apt to enlist based on location (and/or friendship with the captain), than on having relatives enlist.

There were 30 sets of two or more people with the same last name, overall, meaning about 1/3 of the total recruits shared a last name with someone--the quick way I defined "relatives." However, there was only one older recruit who shared a last name, and this was a strange group (see below).

However, only 59 of 201 recruits total were from Romeo, the hometown of the captain who was himself 42 years old, while 6 of 13 older recruits were from Romeo, almost half.

In other words, to jump to a perhaps unwarranted conclusion, it would be more likely for an older recruit in this company to join to follow the captain, while a younger recruit would be more likely to join to follow his brother or cousin.

Here are the older recruits with census data, but there's not enough here to see anything stand out, and no comparison to the average data of all recruits in the company. The information is in the following order: name, hometown on roster, age, family, occupation, total property, place of birth.


John Andrews, Raisinville, 42, wife, 6 young kids, farmer, $3000, Germany

Phillip Burnham, Romeo, 45 (not found on census)

Edwin A. Buzzell, Romeo, 43 (three Buzzells listed: Julian Buzzell, Chattanooga TN, 18, and Marcus Buzzil, n/a, 6 [sic]) (not found on census)

Timothy Clark, Romeo, 42, wife, 5 young kids, farmer, $6250, NY

Morgan L. McKoon, Pontiac, 48 (wife, 3 kids teen & under, shoemaker, $1100, NY)

William Millard, Kalamazoo, 43, (not found on census)

James Newman, Romeo, 40 (wife, 7 kids teen & under, cooper, $800, NY)

James G. Overton, Romeo, 44 (not found on census)

Adam Rittennom, Niles, 43 (not found on census)

Henry Ritter, Woodstock, 45 (wife, 7 kids teen & under plus farmhand, farmer $950, PA)

George Super, Pontiac, 41 (not found on census)

Otis A. Stodard, Romeo, 43 (wife, 4 teens including one helping on farm, farmer, $3500 CT)

Abram W. Vanness, Leighton, 41 (wife, no kids, blacksmith, $1000, NY)

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[5th Texas]

Re: Demographics of older recruits

Hank,

I'd be more interested in seeing the 40+ ratio for Southern troops.

Betcha it looks a little different than the Yankees.

Also, there are some things that will just never show up in the data.

[ScottCross]

Re: Demographics of older recruits

Hank and all,

Going through the two volume set of "Civil War Veterans of Winnebago County, Wisconsin" by David A. Langkau, turned into a bigger job that I had anticipated. I located 95 men above the age of forty who were living, or later lived in, the county and enlisted or were drafted during the Civil War. The vast majority of these men were married, and most had children. Some served along with one or two sons. A quick glance shows:

1. 10 were transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps:
2. 29 were discharged due to disability
3. 12 died in service
4. 51 Mustered out with the regiment (I should point out, that many of these men served in 100 day regiments, or served less than three years). One soldier who mustered out with the regiment was listed as "unable for duty most of the time" in the muster rolls. Without going through each man's muster roll, you can not determine if they were "present" with their company, detached, or sick.

I know the numbers above don't add to 95, that is because some re-enlisted more than once and some were discharged more than once! Some died on the way home or shortly after.

The list is very long, so I am attaching it as a Word Document. It is pretty interesting reading, even though it is abreviated.

[BobSullivanPress]

Re: Demographics of older recruits

I'll be portraying a Union private assigned as an orderly, and it's one of those situations where you portray a typical private, rather than a specific historic person. I can't pass for much younger than a healthy man in his early 40s. So what is typical for the unusual situation of a 40+ year old private?

Hank,

I'd think I'd build my character around a lifetime public/private servant who was an aide to the officer in charge long before the war started. It is very typical in Civil War situations for men who were personally known, or were personal secretaries to other folks to follow them from position to position. Heck, it's done today in the corporate world.

So, if you are going to be an orderly, or an aide, or a clerk, you probably had the same relationship to the person in civilian life, and knew that the reason you joined up is because your boss received a commission, and invited you to come along. You might be out of a job as soon as he left anyway, and you knew that you probably wouldn't see combat, or drill, or ordinary duty of any kind.

In fact you might even have a little Mexican War experience under your belt, when you were a real fire-eater in your 20s. 1862 minus 1847 = 15, and 42 minus 15 = 27. You could regale the youngsters with tales of Veracruz, Cerro Gordo and Chapultepec.

I've used this personna when portraying an obviously older clerk at Ft. McHenry.

[Hoosier Yank]

Re: Demographics of older recruits

My great-great-great-great grandfather Wesley Chambers was just shy of his 40th birthday when he enlisted in Company B of the 76th Illinois Infantry on August 1, 1862. Earlier that year Wesley moved his wife and nine children from their farm in Monroe County , Indiana to Urbana, Illinois. After setting up the new farm sometime that spring or summer a tornado wiped out his entire farm and he was forced to move his family into Urbana and house them in a rented space above a store.

I have copy (very bad one at that) of letter that Wesley wrote during his short period in the Army (he died of pneumonia on November 11, 1863 in Vicksburg, MS). In one letter written from Moscow, Tennessee dated January 22, 1863 to his wife Nancy Jane, we wrote, “We have not been in any fight yet and I am glad of it for I did not come hear to fight to free the neggers. That seams to be that main point with our leading men.”

In this same letter he had asked Nancy Jane to write back to him to tell him and let him know when she planned on moving back to Indiana and what kind of financial shape they were in for the move. By April of 1863 the entire family was back at the farm in Harrodsburg, IN.

From reading this letter I feel that I can safely assume that Wesley wasn’t an abolitionist by any means and more than likely had to enlist to because of financial reasons.

Since, I’m now in that same age group as Wesley (being 41 now, UGGHHH!), I often use Wesley's background as to why I have enlisted at such a ripe old age.

Below is a photo of Wesley, enjoy!

[boozie]

Re: Demographics of older recruits

I think within my family from the Northern states in was love of Country. In the three examples I have, all were farmers and none were in want of money.

Grandfather David Vroman was 47 years old when he enlisted in Co. D 15th O.V.I. on Sept. 11, 1861. He was the father of 8 children and had another in 1863. His service was short, being discharged for disability December 1, 1861. He would loose two sons in the conflict.

Daniel Traxler McClain enlisted at age 42, in Co. D, 65th O.V.I. December 31, 1861. He had a family and no previous military service. His service was short also, being discharged May, 31, 1862.

Grandfather Z.H. Crain was 42 years of age, he enlisted in Co. B 10th Indiana Reg't., Sept. 18, 1861. He was wounded at Mill Springs and was later placed in the V.R.C., to finish out his enlistment. He was the father of 6 children and also had another adult living in the household in 1860. His real estate value was 5000.00 and his value of personal estate was 495.00.

As for Southren records, they we not very good at anyone's age, some men don't have a record of their service, some that did serve the records are sketchy at best. I had an 18 year old (1861) Grandfather in the Confederate army from Hardin County, TN. His father (38 in 1860) never shows up again. Troops from both sides traveled this area throughout the entire war. Did he enlist? Was he conscripted? Was he killed at home by bushwackers? Did he go to the battle of Shiloh knowing his son was there? Did he just pass away at a young age? Some things will never be known.