Re-enlisting as a Veteran Volunteer

[KPavia]

Can someone more knowledgable than me explain what exactly a Veteran Volunteer was? Here is the context-

My ancestor, Andrew J Smith, enlisted in Feb. 1862 for a period of 3 years or the duration of the war into the 77th NYSV. In April 1863, he transferred to the 1st Battry. New York Independent Light Artillery. I just found out today, and I have a copy of the form, that on March 24, 1864 he was mustered out of the service and re-mustered back in as a Veteran Volunteer. The discharge/re-muster paper is signed by Capt. Andrew Cowan who commanded the 1st NY Independent Battery so he mustered out and mustered back in into the same unit.

What is a veteran volunteer? And why would he do this seeing as how his enlistment wasn't up yet? And why would he do it all in the same unit?

Thanks

[4VADRUMMER]

Re: Re-enlisting as a Veteran Volunteer

I think that the short answer is that he simply laterally transferred from the infantry to the artillery. The mustering out/mustering in is the way that the paperwork had to be done at the time so that he would keep his time in grade for pay and privileges. In other words a raw recruit new guy is treated a lot different that a guy that's been around the block a time or two!
I've read countless accounts over the years of infantrymen spending the majority of their enlistment trying to transfer into the Calvary or artillery. I personally spent time as a ground pounder in the US Marines and I can tell you that long marches suck really bad! Just as they did during the civil war. It's a no brainer that your ancestor got out of the infantry when he was able to. He was very fortunate as most guys request fell on deaf ears because there were lots of guys trying to transfer out of the infantry.
This is just my guess on the matter and I'd assume that if he was sickly or injured they would have just discharged him and sent him home. Hope this helps!

[KPavia]

Re: Re-enlisting as a Veteran Volunteer

I think that the short answer is that he simply laterally transferred from the infantry to the artillery. The mustering out/mustering in is the way that the paperwork had to be done at the time so that he would keep his time in grade for pay and privileges. In other words a raw recruit new guy is treated a lot different that a guy that's been around the block a time or two!
I've read countless accounts over the years of infantrymen spending the majority of their enlistment trying to transfer into the Calvary or artillery. I personally spent time as a ground pounder in the US Marines and I can tell you that long marches suck really bad! Just as they did during the civil war. It's a no brainer that your ancestor got out of the infantry when he was able to. He was very fortunate as most guys request fell on deaf ears because there were lots of guys trying to transfer out of the infantry.
This is just my guess on the matter and I'd assume that if he was sickly or injured they would have just discharged him and sent him home. Hope this helps!

Before I had this document, I knew that at some point he had re-enlisted even though his initial 3 year contract was not finished. I had also assumed that his transfer into the artillery was when he had re-enlisted. But this document shows that he re-enlisted as a veteran volunteer one year after he had already been transferred to the artillery. He was part of an attachment from the 77th NYSV to the 1st Ind. Battery before he transferred so I'm guessing that since he already knew the guys in the battery and had been with them for a while they pulled some strings for him when he wanted to officially become part of the battery.

[4VADRUMMER]

Re: Re-enlisting as a Veteran Volunteer

That's exactly what happened I bet. I'm guessing he did a great job and was noticed by the company commander and when he decided he wanted to stay with those guys the Captain went to bat for him in front of the Colonel. That's a really cool bit of info to find on an ancestor!

[Horace]

Re: Re-enlisting as a Veteran Volunteer

Men originally enlisted for "three years or the duration". The "three years" part was a bit of a formality since there was no way it was going to go on that long. In late '63, when it had gone on that long, it became clear that most of the army was going to head for home during the '64 campaign. New enlistments had all but ceased. Big crisis for the US government.

A mean bargain was devised where a guy could reenlist for a fat bounty, a 30 day furlough and the pretty useless designation of 'veteran volunteer; or he could sit out his enlistment, which would generally expire mid to late summer of '64, with zero bounty and zero furlough.

It's been theorized by at least one scholar that the guys who were more optimistic about their chances of surviving the war did not reenlist in the hopes that they'd be out by the summer or the fall, and the less optimistic ones who expected death or injury reenlisted: May as well see mom and dad before it happens and be able to leave them some money.

But it was important to get them to choose a few months before their current enlistments were up. You couldn't do it in the middle of the '64 campaign. Any regiment that didn't have a majority of its men 'ship over' and reenlist was liable to be dismantled and absorbed into other regiments. This would have thrown the men into unfamiliar surroundings as 'red headed step children' and torpedoed the standing of the officers of the dismantled regiments. Coersion, often by officers, sometimes fueled with alcohol, and the lure of the reenlistment bounty and the chance to see home were big. Companies went off to the '64 campaigns with a mixed bag of veteran volunteers and a minority of men who were free to walk on a certain date if they made it that far.

[KPavia]

Re: Re-enlisting as a Veteran Volunteer

That's all good information and it makes me really try to see what my ancestor was trying to do. I think I know why he would re-enlist rather than wait out the last year of his original enlistment. He was single when he enlisted in Feb. 1862. When he died in Feb. 1865 he was a married man. I think he wanted the furlough in order to go home and marry the girl he was writing and he didn't want to wait one more year. Of course, all that is speculation. I don't have any surviving letters of his or of anyone from his family. But, I bet the furlough after being gone for two years was a big temptation for him and he decided to extend his enlistment in order to go home and get some rest. Good thing he did. I think the furlough he received was the last time he was able to see his family since he died a year later of disease.

[Horace]

Re: Re-enlisting as a Veteran Volunteer

I'm guessing that without his reenlistment furlough you wouldn't be here to talk about him.

I think that the government deliberately made the decision a hard one for the veterans of '61, who were already used to regiments that were already half the size of when they'd started. See home for the first time in over two years, recieve a bounty amounting to three or more years pay, and see the war out; or stay in your hut, recieve no extra money and run your chances that you'll still be around to be discharged some time next year. Without reenlistments, the US army would be too small to win in a few months.

Confederates didn't have to worry about a choice. They were in to the end of either the war or their ability to take a place in line.

[cprljohnivey]

Re: Re-enlisting as a Veteran Volunteer

Check out chapter XLI of Cpl Si Klegg and his Pard located on page 554 of this link: http://books.google.com/books?id=23A...page&q&f=false

Although this is a fictionial story, it was written by a veteran who was trying to take down the history of the individual soldier. I believe Todd hit the nail on the head and the adventures of Si and Shorty describe exactly what Todd said. Enjoy!

[faabala]

Re: Re-enlisting as a Veteran Volunteer

You also got to wear a nifty chevron as a Veteran Volunteer.

Here is an old post about them.

http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?4003-Veteran-Volunteer-Chevron

[FortyRounder]

Re: Re-enlisting as a Veteran Volunteer

Official Records series 3, v. 3, p. 414-416: General Order No. 191, War Dept, June 25, 1863: Establishes as veteran volunteers men with at least 9 months service who reenlist. They got one month’s pay in advance, a $25 advance on the $100 federal bounty, a $2 premium, and $300 paid in regular installments (total bounty of $402) plus the service stripe mentioned above and a thirty-day leave. Also, regiments that retained at least 3/4 of their men as veteran volunteers got to keep their identity and be called Veteran Volunteer regiments.

It's worth noting that, although the "Boys of '61" often boasted that they joined up without getting any bounty, in fact everyone who enlisted after May 1861 was entitled to a $100 U.S. government bounty.

[maillemaker]

Re: Re-enlisting as a Veteran Volunteer

It's been theorized by at least one scholar that the guys who were more optimistic about their chances of surviving the war did not reenlist in the hopes that they'd be out by the summer or the fall, and the less optimistic ones who expected death or injury reenlisted: May as well see mom and dad before it happens and be able to leave them some money.

Well, that's depressing. :(

Steve

[Horace]

Re: Re-enlisting as a Veteran Volunteer

Well, by the fall of '64, the Army of the Potomac lost close to half of the men it had in the spring. A minority of them were men/regiments who's enlistments had expired. The rest, not.