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From Prisoner to Prairie: the life of “Galvanized Yankees” at Fort Abercrombie, July 26-28, 2024
This Weekend Living History will walk public, visitors, and reenactors through the wartime experience of the Company A, 1st US Volunteer Infantry Regiment also known as the “Galvanized Yankees”. Before being stationed at Fort Abercrombie, this unit was formed from Confederate soldiers who had been captured and sent to prisoner camps on the East Coast.
The Journey of the Galvanized Yankees
Company A of the 1st U.S.V.I. was recruited from Point Lookout prison camp between January 21 and April 22, 1864, as a three-year regiment. A majority of the men were from Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia mostly captured around Gettysburg, but some were captured as late as Spotslyvania. These were men who chose to take the Federal oath of allegiance and be issued Federal uniforms and weapons. The regiment was initially used as provost guard around Norfolk, VA.
In August 1864, Grant ordered it to the Department of the Northwest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The 1st U.S.V.I. traveled by ship to New York City and by train to Chicago, where it received further orders splitting the regiment. Company A moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and then onto St Paul and Fort Snelling, Minnesota. The regiment would lose dozens of men to desertion during this move. Company A would then march roughly 225 miles from Fort Snelling to Fort Abercrombie arriving on Nov. 12, 1864
For reenactors, this event will give each participant two choices; portray Federal infantrymen who will act as guards and Federal soldiers of the fort or Confederate prisoners who will undergo the process of becoming Union soldiers. Every participant must bring a standard Federal impression, but those portraying Confederate prisoners will wear their rebel clothing until they are issued the “blue suit”.
While this event is not necessarily a full immersion event, there is great value for both the public and reenactors in better understanding the life of the Confederate POWs you served at Fort Abercrombie.
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